Gift   of 
.   Leonora  B.    Lucas 


Trepanning  Men  to  be  Sent  to  the 


THE      HISTORY 

OF    THE 
UNITED     STATES 

FROM    1409    TO    1017 

BY    JULIAN    HAWTHORNE 

WITH  SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS  BY 
FRANCIS    J     REYNOLDS 

rOBMBB   RirERIXCE  LIBRARIAN    •    LIBRARY  OT  COM0RBM 

VOLUME      I 


ILLUSTRATED 


P   F  COLLIER    V    SON    •   NEW    YORK 


Copyright  1898 
BY  P.  F.  COLLIER  &  SON 

Copyright  1910 
BY  P.  F.  COLLIER  &  SON 

Copyright  1912 
BY  P.  F.  COLLIER  &  SON 

Copyright  1915 
BY  P.  F.  COLLIER  &  SON 

Copyright   1917 
BY  P.  F.  COLLIER  &  SON 


t~/7/ 
H3l 

v.l 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES 

VOL.  I 
FROM    DISCOVERY   OF   AMERICA 

OCTOBER    12    1492 
TO 

BATTLE   OF   LEXINGTON 

APRIL    19,   1775 


U.S.— 1    VOL.  I 


CONTENTS   OF   VOLUME   ONE 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 5 

BEFORE  DAWN 11 

I.  COLUMBUS,  RALEIGH,  AND  SMITH 23 

II.  THE  FREIGHT  op  THE  "MAYFLOWER" 51 

III.  THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  PURITANS 72 

IV.  FROM  HUDSON  TO  STUYVESANT 100 

V          V.  LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 127 

VI.  CATHOLIC,  PHILOSOPHER,  AND  REBEL 154 

VII.  QUAKER,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 182 

VIII.  THE  STUARTS  AND  THE  CHARTER 209 

IX.  THE  NEW  LEAF,  AND  THE  BLOT  ON  IT     .     .     .     .  237 

X.  FIFTY  YEARS  OF  FOOLS  AND  HEROES 265 

XI.  QUEM  JUPITER  VULT  PERDERE 291 

XII.  THE  PLAINS  OF  ABRAHAM  AND  THE  STAMP  ACT  .     .  318 

XIII.  THE  PASSING  OF  THE  RUBICON 346 

IV.  THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD     .     .           .  374 


456535 


INTRODUCTION 

WHEN  we  speak  of  History  we  may  mean  either 
one  of  several  things.  A  savage  will  make  pic- 
ture marks  on  a  stone  or  a  bone  or  a  bit  of 
wood;  they  serve  to  recall  to  him  and  his  companions 
certain  events  which  appeared  remarkable  or  important 
for  one  or  another  reason ;  there  was  an  earthquake,  or 
a  battle,  or  a  famine,  or  an  invasion:  the  chronicler 
himself,  or  some  fellow  tribesman  of  his,  may  have  per- 
formed some  notable  exploit.  The  impulse  to  make  a 
record  of  it  was  natural :  posterity  might  thereby  be  in- 
formed, after  the  chronicler  himself  had  passed  away, 
concerning  the  perils,  the  valor,  the  strange  experiences 
of  their  ancestors.  Such  records  were  uniformly  brief, 
and  no  attempt  was  made  to  connect  one  with  another, 
or  to  interpret  them.  We  find  such  fragmentary  his- 
tories among  the  remains  of  our  own  aborigines;  and 
the  inscriptions  of  Egypt  and  Mesopotamia  are  the 
same  in  character  and  intention,  though  more  elaborate. 
Warlike  kings  thus  endeavored,  from  motives  of  pride, 
to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  their  achievements.  At 
the  time  when  they  were  inscribed  upon  the  rock,  or 
the  walls  of  the  tombs,  or  the  pedestals  of  the  statues, 
they  had  no  further  value  than  this.  But  after  the 
lapse  of  many  ages  they  acquire  a  new  value,  far 
greater  than  the  original  one,  and  not  contemplated 
by  the  scribes.  They  assume  their  proper  place  in  the 
long  story  of  mankind,  and  indicate,  each  in  its  de- 
gree, the  manner  and  direction  of  the  processes  ^by 
which  man  has  become  what  he  is,  from  what  he  was. 
Thereby  there  is  breathed  into  the  dead  fact  the  breath 
of  life ;  it  rises  from  its  tomb  of  centuries,  and  does  its 
appointed  work  in  the  mighty  organism  of  humanity. 

In  a  more  complex  state  of  society,  a  class  of  persons 
comes  into  being  who  are  neither  protagonists,  nor 

5 


INTRODUCTION 

slaves,  but  observers ;  and  they  meditate  on  events,  and 
seek  to  fathom  their  meaning.  If  the  observer  be  imagi- 
native, the  picturesque  side  of  things  appeals  to  him; 
he  dissolves  the  facts,  and  recreates  them  to  suit  his 
conceptions  of  beauty  and  harmony;  and  we  have 
poetry  and  legend.  Another  type  of  mind  will  give  us 
real  histories,  like  those  of  Herodotus,  Thucydides, 
Tacitus,  and  Livy,  which  are  still  a  model  in  their  kind. 
These  great  writers  took  a  broad  point  of  view;  they 
saw  the  end  from  the  beginning  of  their  narrative ;  they 
assigned  to  their  facts  their  relative  place  and  im- 
portance, and  merged  them  in  a  pervading  atmosphere 
of  opinion,  based  upon  the  organic  relation  of  cause 
and  effect.  Studying  their  works,  we  are  enabled  to 
discern  the  tendencies  and  developments  of  a  race,  and 
to  note  the  effects  of  civilization,  character,  vice,  vir- 
tue, and  of  that  sum  of  them  all  which  we  term  fate. 

During  what  are  called  the  Dark  Ages  of  Europe, 
history  fell  into  the  hands  of  that  part  of  the  popula- 
tion which  alone  was  conversant  with  letters — the 
priestly  class ;  and  the  annals  they  have  left  to  us  have 
none  of  the  value  which  belongs  to  the  productions  of 
classical  antiquity.  They  were  again  mere  records;  or 
they  were  mystical  or  fanciful  tales  of  saints  and 
heroes,  composed  or  distorted  for  the  glorification  of 
the  church,  and  the  strengthening  of  the  influence  of 
the  priests  over  the  people.  But  these  also,  in  after 
times,  took  on  a  value  which  they  had  not  originally 
possessed,  and  become  to  the  later  student  a  precious 
chapter  of  the  history  of  mankind. 

Meanwhile,  emerging  august  from  the  shadows  of  an- 
tiquity, we  have  that  great  body  of  literature  of  which 
our  own  Bible  is  the  highest  type,  which  purports  to 
present  the  story  of  the  dealings  of  the  Creator  with 
His  creatures.  These  wonderful  books  appear  to  have 
been  composed  in  a  style,  and  on  a  principle,  the  secret 
of  which  has  been  lost.  The  facts  which  they  relate, 
often  seemingly  trivial  and  disconnected,  are  really  but 
a  material  veil,  or  symbol,  concealing  a  spiritual  body 
of  truth,  which  is  neither  trivial  nor  disconnected,  but 
an  organized,  orderly  and  catholic  revelation  of  the 

6 


INTRODUCTION 

nature  of  man,  of  the  processes  of  his  spiritual  regener- 
ation., of  his  final  reconciliation  with  the  Divine.  The 
time  will  perhaps  come  when  some  inspired  man  or 
men  will  be  enabled  to  handle  our  modern  history  with 
the  same  esoteric  insight  which  informed  the  Hebivw 
scribes,  when  they  used  the  annals  of  the  obscure  tribe 
to  which  they  belonged  as  a  cover  under  which  to  pre- 
sent the  relations  of  God  with  all  the  human  race,  past 
and  to  come. 

Modern  history  tends  more  and  more  to  become 
philosophic :  to  be  an  argument  and  an  interpretation, 
rather  than  a  bald  statement  of  facts.  The  facts  con- 
tained in  our  best  histories  bear  much  the  same  rela- 
tion to  the  history  itself  that  the  flesh  and  bones  of  the 
body  bear  to  the  person  who  lives  in  and  by  them.  The 
flesh  and  bones,  or  the  facts,  have  to  exist;  but  the 
only  excuse  for  their  existence  is  that  the  person  may 
have  being,  or  that  the  history  may  trace  a  spiritual 
growth  or  decadence.  There  was  perhaps  a  time  when 
the  historian  found  a  difficulty  in  collecting  facts 
enough  to  serve  as  a  firm  foundation  for  his  edifice  of 
comment  and  deduction ;  but  nowadays,  his  embarrass- 
ment is  rather  in  the  line  of  making  a  judicious  selec- 
tion from  the  enormous  mass  of  facts  which  research 
and  the  facilities  of  civilization  have  placed  at  his  dis- 
posal. Not  only  is  every  contemporary^  event  recorded 
instantly  in  the  newspapers  and  elsewhere;  but  new 
light  is  being  constantly  thrown  upon  the  past,  even 
upon  the  remotest  confines  thereof,  ^ome  of  the  facts 
thus  brought  before  us  are  original  and  vital ;  others  are 
mere  echoes,  repetitions,  and  unimportant  variations. 

But  the  historian,  if  he  wishes  his  work  to  last,  must 
build  as  does  the  Muse  in  Emerson's  verse,  with 

"Rafters  of  immortal  pine, 
Cedar  incorruptible,  worthy  her  design." 

Or  he  may  be  sure  that  the  historian  who  comes  after 
him  will  sift  the  wheat  from  his  chaff,  and  leave  him 
no  better  reputation  than  that  of  the  quarry  from 
which  the  marble  of  the  statue  comes.  He  must  tell  a 

7 


INTRODUCTION 

consecutive  story,  but  must  eschew  all  redundancy, 
furnish  no  more  supports  for  his  bridge  than  its 
stability  requires,  prune  his  tree  so  severely  that  it 
shall  bear  none  but  good  fruit,  forbear  to  freight  the 
memory  of  his  reader  with  a  cargo  so  unwieldy  as  to 
sink  it.  On  the  other  hand,  of  course,  he  must  beware 
of  being  too  terse ;  man  cannot  live  by  bread  alone,  and 
the  reader  of  histories  needs  to  be  told  the  Why  as 
well  as  the  What.  But  the  historical  field  is  so  wide 
that  one  man,  in  his  one  lifetime,  can  hardly  hope  by 
independent  and  original  investigation  both  to  collect 
all  the  data  from  which  to  build  his  structure,  and  so 
to  select  his  timbers  that  only  the  indispensable  ones 
shall  be  employed.  In  reality,  we  find  one  historian  of 
a  given  subject  or  period  succeeding  another,  and  re- 
fining upon  his  methods  and  treatment.  With  each  suc- 
cessive attempt  the  outlook  becomes  clearer  and  more 
comprehensive,  and  the  meaning  of  the  whole  more 
pronounced.  The  spirit,  for  the  sake  of  which  the  body 
exists,  more  and  more  dominates  its  material  basis, 
until  at  last  the  latter  practically  vanishes  "in  the 
light  of  its  meaning  sublime."  This  is  the  apotheosis 
of  history,  which  of  course  has  not  yet  been  attained, 
and  probably  can  never  be  more  than  approximated. 

The  present  work  is  a  very  modest  contribution 
toward  the  desired  result.  It  makes  few  or  no  preten- 
sions to  original  research.  There  are  many  histories 
of  the  United.  States  and  the  fundamental  facts  thereof 
are  known.  But  it  remains  for  the  student  to  endeavor 
to  solve  and  declare  the  meaning  of  the  farnilar  events  5 
to  state  his  view  of  their  source  and  their  ultimate 
issue.  In  these  volumes  I  have  taken  the  view  that 
the  American  nation  is  the  embodiment  and  vehicle 
of  a  Divine  purpose  to  emancipate  and  enlighten  the 
human  race.  Man  is  entering  upon  a  new  career  of 
spiritual  freedom:  he  is  to  enjoy  a  hitherto  unprece- 
dented condition  of  political,  social,  and  moral  liberty 
— as  distinguished  from  license,  which  in  truth  is 
slavery.  The  stage  for  this  grand  evolution  was  fixed 
in  the  Western  Continent,  and  the  pioneers  who  went 


TNTEODUCTION 

thither  were  inspired  with  the  desire  to  escape  from 
the  thralldom  of  the  past,  and  to  nourish  their  souls 
with  that  pure  and  exquisite  freedom  which  can  afford 
to  ignore  the  ease  of  the  body,  and  all  temporal  lux- 
uries,  for  the  sake  of  that  elixir  of  immortality.  This, 
according  to  my  thinking,  is  the  innermost  core  of  the 
American  Idea;  if  you  go  deep  enough  into  surface 
manifestations,  you  will  find  it.  It  is  what  differenti- 
ates Americans  from  all  other  peoples;  it  is  what  makes 
Americans  out  of  emigrants;  it  is  what  draws  the 
masses  of  Europe  hither,  and  makes  their  rulers  fear 
and  hate  us.  It  may  often,  and  uniformly,  happen  that 
any  i^ivcn  individual  is  unconscious  of  the  Spirit  that 
moves  within  him;  for  it  is  the  way  of  that  Spirit  to 
subordinate  its  manifestations  to  its  ends,  knowing" 
the  frailty  of  humanity.  But  it  is  there,  and  its  gradual 
and  cumulative  results  are  seen  in  the  retrospect,  and 
it  may  perhaps  be  divined  as  to  the  outline  of  some  of 
its  future  developments. 

Some  sort  of  recognition  of  the  American  Idea,  and 
of  the  American  destiny,  affords  the  only  proper  ground 
for  American  patriotism.  We  talk  of  the  size  of  our 
country,  of  its  wealth  and  prosperity,  of  its  physical 
power,  of  its  enlightenment;  but  if  these  things  be  all 
that  we  have  to  be  proud  of,  we  have  little.  They  are 
in  truth  but  outward  signs  of  a  far  more  precious  pos- 
session within.  We  are  the  pioneers  of  the  New  Day, 
or  we  are  nothing  worth  talking  about.  We  are  at  the 
threshold  of  our  career.  Our  record  thus  far  is  full 
of  faults,  and  presents  not  a  few  deformities,  due  to 
our  human  frailties  and  limitations;  but  our  general 
direction  has  been  onward  and  upward.  At  the  mo- 
ment when  this  book  is  finished,  we  seem  to  be  enter- 
ing upon  a  fresh  phase  of  our  journey,  and  a  vast  hori- 
zon opens  around  us.  It  was  inevitable  that  America 
should  not  be  confined  to  any  special  area  on  the  map 
of  the  world ;  it  is  of  little  importance  that  we  fill  our 
own  continent  with  men  and  riches.  We  are  to  teach 
men  in  all  parts  of  the  world  what  freedom  is,  and 
thereby  institute  other  Americas  in  the  very  strong- 
holds of  oppression.  In  order  to  accomplish  this, 

9 


INTRODUCTION 

Americans  will  be  drawn  forth  and  will  obtain  foot- 
hold in  remote  regions,  there  to  disseminate  their 
genius  and  inculcate  their  aims.  In  Europe  and  Asia 
are  wars  and  rumors  of  wars;  but  there  seems  no  rea- 
son why  the  true  revolution,  which  Americanism  in- 
volves, should  not  be  a  peaceful  and  quiet  one.  Our 
real  enemies  may  be  set  in  high  places,  but  they  are 
very  few,  and  their  power  depends  wholly  on  those 
myriads  who  are  at  heart  our  allies.  If  we  can  assure 
the  latter  of  our  good  faith  and  disinterestedness,  the 
battle  is  won  without  fighting.  Indeed,  the  day  for 
Mohammedan  conquests  is  gone  by,  and  any  such  con- 
quest would  be  far  worse  than  futile. 

These  are  theories  and  speculations,  and  so  far  as 
they  enter  into  my  book,  they  do  so  as  atmosphere  and 
aim  only ;  they  are  not  permitted  to  mold  the  character 
of  the  narrative,  so  that  it  may  illustrate  a  foregone 
conclusion.  I  have  related  the  historical  story  as  sim- 
ply and  directly  as  I  could,  making  use  of  the  best 
established  authorities.  Here  and  there  I  have  called 
attention  to  what  seemed  to  me  the  significance  of 
events;  but  anyone  is  at  liberty  to  interpret  them 
otherwise  if  he  will.  After  all  the  best  use  of  a  history 
is  probably  to  stimulate  readers  to  think  for  them- 
selves about  the  events  portrayed;  and  if  I  have  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  that,  I  shall  be  satisfied.  The  history 
of  the  United  States  does  mean  something :  what  is  it  ? 
Are  we  a  decadent  fruit  that  is  rotten  before  it  is  ripe  ? 
or  are  we  the  bud  of  the  mightiest  tree  of  time?  The 
materials  for  forming  your  judgment  are  here;  form 
it  according  as  your  faith  and  hope  may  dictate. 

JULIAN  HAWTHORNE. 


10 


HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES 


BEFORE    DAWN 

WHEN,  four  centuries  ago,  adventurers  from  the 
Old  World  first  landed  on  the  southern  shores 
of  the  Western  Continent,  and  pushed  their 
way  into  the  depths  of  the  primeval  forest,  they  found 
growing  in  its  shadowy  fastnesses  a  mighty  plant, 
with  vast  leaves  radiating  upward  from  the  mold,  and 
tipped  with  formidable  thorns.  Its  aspect  was  un- 
friendly ;  it  added  nothing  to  the  beauty  of  the  wilder- 
ness, and  it  made  advance  more  difficult.  But  from 
the  midst  of  some  of  them  uprose  a  tall  stem,  rivaling 
in  height  the  trees  themselves,  and  crowned  with  a 
glorious  canopy  of  golden  blossoms.  The  flower  of  the 
forbidding  plant  was  the  splendor  of  the  forest. 

It  was  the  Agave,  or  American  Aloe,  sometimes 
called  the  Century  Plant,  because  it  blooms  but  once 
in  a  lifetime.  It  is  of  the  family  of  the  lilies;  but  no 
other  lily  rivals  its  lofty  magnificence.  From  the  gloom 
of  the  untrodden  places  it  sends  its  shaft  skyward 
into  the  sunshine;  it  is  an  elemental  growth:  its  sim- 
plicity equals  its  beauty.  But  until  the  flower  blooms, 
after  its  ages  of  preparation,  the  plant  seems  to  have 
no  meaning,  proportion,  or  comeliness;  only  when  those 
golden  petals  have  unfolded  upon  the  summit  of  their 
stately  eminence  do  we  comprehend  the  symmetry 
and  significance  that  had  so  long  waited  to  avouch 
themselves. 

This  Lily  of  the  Ages,  native  to  American  soil,  may 
fittingly  stand  as  the  symbol  of  the  great  Western 
Republic  which,  after  so  many  thousand  years  of 
spiritual  vicissitude  and  political  experiment,  rises 

11 


HISTOEY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

heavenward  out  of  the  wilderness  of  time,  and  reveals 
its  golden  promise  to  those  who  have  lost  their  way  in 
the  dark  forest  of  error  and  oppression.  It  was  long 
withheld,  but  it  came  at  last,  and  about  it  center  the 
best  hopes  of  mankind.  These  United  States — this 
America  of  ours,  as  we  love  to  call  it — is  unlike  any 
other  nation  that  has  preceded  or  is  contemporary  with 
it.  It  is  the  conscious  incarnation  of  a  sublime  idea — 
the  conception  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  It  is  a 
spirit  first,  and  a  bodv  afterward;  thus  following  the 
true  law  of  immortal  growth.  It  is  the  visible  consum- 
mation of  human  history,  and  commands  the  fealty  of 
all  noble  minds  in  every  corner  of  the  earth,  as  well  as 
within  its  own  boundaries.  There  are  Americans  in 
all  countries ;  but  America  is  their  home. 

The  seed  is  hidden  in  the  soil ;  the  germ  is  shut  with- 
in the  darkness  of  the  womb;  the  preparation  for  all 
birth  is  obscure.  For  more  than  a  century  after  the 
discovery  of  Columbus  no  one  divined  the  true  signifi- 
cance and  destiny  of  the  nation-that-was-to-be.  Years 
passed  before  it  was  understood  even  that  the  coast  of 
the  New  World  was  anything  more  than  the  western 
boundaries  of  the  Asiatic  continent;  Columbus  never 
wavered  from  this  conviction ;  the  Cabots  fancied  that 
our  Atlantic  shores  were  those  of  China;  and  though 
Balboa,  in  1513,  waded  waist  deep  into  the  Pacific  off 
Darien,  and  claimed  it  for  Spain,  yet  the  massive  im- 
mensity of  America  was  not  suspected.  There  was  not 
space  for  it  on  the  globe  as  then  plotted  by  geog-< 
raphers;  it  must  be  a  string  of  islands,  or  at  best 
but  an  attenuated  outlying  bulwark  of  the  East.  News 
spread  slowly  in  those  days;  Vasco  da  Gama  had 
reached  India  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  before 
Balboa's  exploit;  Columbus,  on  his  third  voyage,  had 
touched  the  mainland  of  South  America,  and  young 
Sebastian  Cabot,  sailing  from  Bristol  under  the  Eng- 
lish flag,  had  driven  his  prow  against  Labrador  ice  in 
his  effort  to  force  a  northwest  passage;  and  still  the 
truth  was  not  fully  realized.  And  when,  a  century 
later,  the  English  colonies  were  assigned  their  bound- 
aries, these  were  defined  north,  south,  and  east,  but  to 

12 


BEFORE    DAWN 

the  west  they  extended  without  limit.  Panama  was 
but  thirty  miles  across,  and  no  one  imagined  that  three 
thousand  miles  of  solid  land  stretched  between  the 
Chesapeake  and  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco.  Then,  as 
now,  orthodoxy  fought  against  the  heresy  that  there 
could  be  anything  that  was  not  as  narrow  as  itself. 

And  this  physical  denial  or  belittlement  of  the 
American  continent  had  its  mental  complement  in  the 
failure  to  comprehend  the  destiny  of  the  people  which 
w;is  to  inhabit  it.  Spain  thought  only  of  material  and 
theological  aggrandizement:  of  getting  gold,  and  con- 
verting heathen,  to  her  own  temporal  and  spiritual 
glory;  and  she  was  as  ready  to  shed  innocent  blood  in 
the  latter  cause  as  in  the  former.  England,  without  her 
rival's  religious  bigotry,  was  as  intent  upon  winning 
wealth  through  territorial  and  commercial  usurpa- 
tions. Though  not  a  few  of  the  actual  discoverers  and 
explorers  were  generous,  magnanimous  and  kindly 
men,  having  in  view  an  honorable  renown,  based  on 
opening  new  fields  of  life  and  prosperity  to  future  ages, 
yet  the  monarchs  and  the  trading  companies  that  stood 
behind  them  exhibited  an  unvarying  selfishness  and 
greed.  The  new  world  was  to  them  a  field  for  plunder 
only.  Each  aimed  to  own  it  all,  and  to  monopolize  its 
produce.  The  priestly  missionaries  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith  did  indeed  pursue  their  ends  with  a 
self-sacrifice  and  courage  which  deserve  all  praise; 
they  devoted  themselves  at  the  risk  and  often  at  the 
cost  of  their  lives  to  the  enterprise  of  winning  souls, 
as  they  believed,  to  Christ.  But  the  Church  dignitaries 
who  sent  forth  these  soldiers  of  religion  sought  through 
them  only  to  increase  the  credit  of  their  organization ; 
they  contemplated  but  the  enlargement  of  their  power. 
The  thought  of  establishing  in  the  wilderness  a  place 
where  men  might  rule  themselves  in  freedom  entered 
not  into  their  calculations.  The  spirit  of  the  old  order 
survived  the  birth  of  the  spirit  of  the  new. 

But  the  conflict  thus  provoked  was  necessary  to  the 
evolution  which  Providence  was  preparing.  The  soul 
"rows  strong  through  hardship;  truth  conquers  I>y 
struggling  against  opposition.  It  is  by  resistance,  at 

13 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

first  instinctive,  against  restraint  that  the  infant  at- 
tains self -consciousness.  The  first  settlers  who  came 
across  the  ocean  were  animated  solely  by  the  desire 
to  escape  from  oppression  in  their  native  land;  they 
had  as  yet  no  purpose  to  set  up  an  independent  empire. 
But,  as  the  breath  of  the  forest  and  the  prairie  en- 
tered into  their  lungs,  and  the  untrammeled  spacious- 
ness of  the  virgin  continent  unshackled  their  minds, 
they  began  to  resent,  though  at  first  timidly,  the  arro- 
gant pretension  to  rule  them  across  the  waves.  Their 
environment  gave  them  courage,  made  them  hardy 
and  self-dependent,  enlightened  their  intelligence, 
weaned  them  from  vain  traditions,  revealed  to  them 
the  truth  that  man's  birthright  is  liberty.  And  gradu- 
ally, as  the  reins  of  tyranny  were  drawn  tighter,  these 
pioneers  of  the  New  Day  were  wrought  up  to  the  pitch 
of  throwing  off  all  allegiance,  and  setting  their  lives 
upon  the  cast.  The  idea  of  political  freedom  is  common- 
place now ;  but  to  conceive  it  for  the  first  time  required 
a  mighty  effort,  and  it  could  have  been  accomplished 
nowhere  else  than  in  a  vast  and  untrodden  land.  The 
Declaration  of  Independence,  nearly  three  centuries 
after  Columbus's  discovery  of  America,  showed  the 
hitherto  blind  and  sordid  world  what  America  was 
discovered  for.  Individual  men  of  genius  had  surmised 
it  many  years  before;  but  their  hope  of  forecast  had 
been  deemed  but  an  idle  vision  until  in  a  moment,  as  it 
were,  the  reality  was  born. 

It  was  essential,  however,  to  the  final  success  of  the 
great  revolt  that  the  men  who  brought  it  to  pass  should 
be  the  best  of  a  chosen  race.  And  this  requisite  also 
was  secured  by  conflict.  It  was  the  inveterate  persua- 
sion of  many  generations  that  America  was  the  land 
of  gold.  Tales  told  by  the  Indians  stimulated  the  imagi- 
nation and  the  cupidity  of  the  first  adventurers;  leg- 
ends of  El  Dorado  kindled  the  horizons  that  fled  be- 
fore them  as  they  advanced.  Somewhere  beyond  those 
savage  mountains,  amid  these  pathless  forests,  was  a 
noble  city  built  and  paved  with  gold.  Somewhere 
flowed  a  stately  river  whose  waters  swept  between 
golden  margins,  over  sands  of  gold.  In  some  remote 

14 


BEFORE    DAWN 

region  dwelt  a  barbarian  monarch  to  whom  gold 
precious  stones  were  as  the  dross  of  the  wayside.  These 
stories  were  the  offspring  of  the  legends  of  the  al- 
chemists of  the  Dark  Ages,  who  had  professed  to  make 
gold  in  their  crucibles;  it  was  as  good  to  pick  up  gold 
in  annfuls  on  the  earth  as  to  manufacture  it  in  the 
laboratory.  The  actual  discovery  of  treasure  in  Mexico 
and  Peru  only  whetted  the  inexhaustible  appetite  of 
the  adventurers ;  they  toiled  through  swamps,  they  cut 
their  way  through  woods,  they  scaled  precipices,  they 
fought  savages,  they  starved  and  died ;  and  their  eyes, 
glazing  in  death,  still  sought  the  gleam  of  the  precious 
metal.  Worse  than  death,  to  them,  would  have  been 
the  revelation  that  their  belief  was  baseless.  The 
thirst  for  wealth  is  not  accounted  noble;  yet  there 
seems  to  have  been  something  not  ignoble  in  this  ro- 
mantic quest  for  illimitable  gold.  There  is  a  magic  in 
the  mere  idea  of  the  yellow  metal,  apart  from  such 
practical  or  luxurious  uses  as  it  may  subserve;  it  stood 
for  power  and  splendor — whatever  good  the  men  of 
that  age  were  prone  to  appreciate.  Howbeit,  the 
strongest  and  bravest  of  all  lands  were  drawn  together 
in  the  search;  and  inevitably  they  met  and  clashed. 
Foremost  among  the  antagonists  were  Spain  and  Eng- 
land. The  ambition  of  Spain  was  measureless;  she 
desired  not  only  the  mastery  of  America  and  its  riches, 
but  the  empire  of  the  world,  the  leadership  in  com- 
merce, and  the  ownership  of  the  very  gates  of  Heaven. 
England  sought  land  and  trade;  she  was  practical  and 
unromantic,  but  strong  and  daring;  and  in  her  people, 
unlike  the  Spanish,  were  implanted  the  seeds  of  human 
freedom.  She  had  not  as  yet  the  prestige  of  Spain ; 
but  men  like  Francis  Drake  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh 
went  far  to  win  it;  moreover,  the  star  of  Spain  had  al- 
ready begun  to  wane,  while  that  of  England  was  wax- 
ing. Whenever,  therefore,  the  strength  of  the  two 
rivals  was  fairly  pitted,  England  had  the  better  of 
the  encounter.  Spain  might  dominate,  for  a  while,  the 
southern  regions  of  the  continent;  and  her  priests 
might  thread  the  western  wildernesses,  and  build 
white- walled  missions  there;  but  to  England  should 

15 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

belong  the  Atlantic  coast  from  Labrador  to  Florida: 
the  most  readily  accessible  from  Europe,  and  the  best 
adapted  to  bring  forth  that  wealth  for  which  gold  must 
be  given  in  exchange.  The  struggle,  as  between  the 
Spanish  and  the  English,  was  temporarily  suspended, 
and  it  was  with  France  that  the  latter  now  found  them- 
selves confronted.  The  French  had  entered  America 
by  way  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  down  the  Mississippi, 
in  expectation,  like  the  others,  of  finding  a  passage 
through  to  India;  they  had  planted  colonies  and  con- 
ciliated the  Indians,  and  were  destined  to  give  Eng- 
land much  more  trouble  than  her  former  foe  had  done. 
They,  like  the  English,  wished  to  live  in  the  new  world ; 
Spain's  chief  desire  was  to  plunder  it  and  take  the 
booty  home  with  her.  In  the  sequel,  England  was  vic- 
torious ;  and  thus  approved  her  right  to  be  the  nucleus 
of  the  Race  of  the  Future.  Finally,  it  was  to  be  her 
fate  to  fight  that  Race  itself,  and  to  be  defeated  by  it ; 
and  thus,  as  the  chosen  from  the  chosen,  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Thirteen  Colonies  were  to  begin  their  career. 

The  birth  of  America  must  therefore  be  dated,  not 
from  the  discovery  of  the  land,  but  from  the  culmina- 
tion in  revolt  of  the  English  Colonies.  All  that  pre- 
ceded this  was  as  the  early  and  ambiguous  processes 
of  nature  in  bringing  forth  the  plant  from  the  seed. 
Nature  ,knows  her  work,  and  its  result;  but  the  on- 
looker sees  the  result  only.  The  Creator  of  man  knew 
of  what  a  child  America  was  to  be  the  mother:  but  the 
world,  intent  upon  its  selfish  concerns,  recognized  it 
only  when  the  consummation  had  been  reached.  And 
even  now  she  eyes  us  askance,  and  mutters  doubts  as  to 
our  endurance  and  our  legitimacy.  But  America  is 
Europe's  best  and  only  friend,  and  her  political  pattern 
must  sooner  or  later,  and  more  or  less  exactly,  be  fol- 
lowed by  all  peoples.  Democracy,  however  unwelcome 
in  its  first  and  outward  aspect  it  may  appear,  is  the 
logical  issue  of  human  experiments  in  government;  it 
is  susceptible  of  much  abuse  and  open  to  many  corrup- 
tions ;  but  these  cannot  penetrate  far  below  the  surface ; 
they  are  external  and  obvious,  not  vital  and  secret;  be- 
cause at  heart  the  voice  of  democracy  is  the  voice  of 

16 


BEFORE    DAWN 

God.  It  may  be  silent  for  long,  so  that  some  will  dis- 
believe or  despair,  and  say  in  their  haste  that  democ- 
racy is  a  fraud  or  a  failure.  But  at  last  its  tones  will 
be  heard,  and  its  word  will  be  irresistible  and  im- 
mortal :  the  word  of  the  Lord,  uttering  itself  through 
the  mouth  of  His  creatures. 

The  preliminary  episodes  and  skirmishings,  there- 
fore, which  went  before  the  spiritual  self -consciousness 
of  America  will  be  treated  here  in  outline  only;  only 
such  events  and  persons  as  were  the  sources  of  sub- 
sequent important  conditions  will  be  drawn  in  light 
and  shadow.  This  period  of  adventure  and  explora- 
tion is,  it  is  true,  rich  in  picturesque  characters  and 
romantic  incident,  but  they  have  little  organic  relation 
to  the  history  of  the  true  America — which  is  the  trac- 
ing of  the  development  and  embodiment  of  an  abstract 
idea.  They  belong  to  Europe,  whose  life  was  present 
in  them,  though  the  men  acted  and  the  incidents  oc- 
curred in  a  strange  environment.  They  are  attractive 
subjects  of  study  in  themselves,  but  have  small  perti- 
nence to  the  present  argument.  Our  aim  will  be  to 
maintain  an  organic  coherency. 

Still  less  can  we  linger  in  that  impressive  darkness 
before  dawn  which  prevailed  upon  the  continent  before 
the  advent  of  Columbus.  The  mystery  which  shrouds 
the  origin  and  annals  of  the  races  which  inhabited 
America  previous  to  the  European  invasion  has  been 
assiduously  investigated,  but  never  dispelled.  At  first 
it  was  taken  for  granted  that  the  "Indians,"  as  the  red 
men  were  iguorantly  called,  were  the  aboriginal  deni- 
zens of  the  country.  But  the  mounds,  ruined  cities, 
pottery,  and  other  remains  since  found  in  all  parts  of 
the  laud,  concerning  which  the  Indians  could  furnish 
no  information,  and  which  showed  a  state  of  civiliza- 
tion far  in  advance  of  theirs,  were  proof  that  a  great 
people  had  existed  here  in  the  remote  past,  who  had 
flourished  and  disappeared  without  leaving  any  trace 
whereby  they  could  be  accounted  for  or  identified. 
They  are  an  enigma  compared  with  which  the  archeo- 
logical  problems  of  the  Old  World  are  an  open  book. 
We  can  form  no  conception  of  the  conditions  under 

17 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

which  they  lived,  of  their  personal  characteristics,  of 
their  language,  habits,  or  religion.  We  cannot  deter- 
mine whether  these  forerunners  of  the  Indians  were 
one  people  in  several  stages  of  development,  or  several 
peoples  in  simultaneous  occupation  of  the  land.  We 
can  establish  no  trustworthy  connection  between  them 
and  any  Asiatic  races,  and  yet  we  are  reluctant  to  be- 
lieve them  isolated  from  the  rest  of  mankind.  If  they 
had  dwelt  here  from  their  creation,  why  had  they  not 
progressed  further  in  civilization? — and  if  they  emi- 
grated hither  from  another  continent,  why  do  their  re- 
mains not  indicate  their  source?  By  what  agency  did 
they  perish,  and  when?  The  more  keenly  we  strive  to 
penetrate  their  mystery  the  more  perplexing  does  it 
appear ;  the  further  we  investigate  them  the  more  alien 
from  anything  we  are  or  have  known  do  they  seem. 
Elusive  as  mist,  and  questionable  as  night,  they  form 
a  suggestive  background  on  which  the  vivid  and  ener- 
getic drama  of  our  novel  civilization  stands  out  in 
sharp  relief. 

Scarcely  less  mysterious — though  living  among  us 
still — are  the  red  men  whom  we  found  here.  They  had 
no  written  languages  or  history;  their  knowledge  of 
their  own  past  was  confined  to  vague  and  fanciful  tra- 
ditions. They  were  few  in  numbers,  barbarous  in  con- 
dition, untamable  in  nature;  they  built  no  cities  and 
practiced  no  industries:  their  women  planted  maize 
and  performed  all  menial  labors ;  their  men  hunted  and 
fought.  Before  we  came,  they  fought  one  another;  our 
coming  did  not  unite  them  against  a  common  enemy ; 
it  only  gave  each  of  them  one  enemy  the  more.  After 
an  intercourse  of  four  hundred  years,  we  know  as  little 
of  them  as  we  did  at  first;  we  have  neither  educated, 
absorbed  nor  exterminated  them.  The  fashion  of  their 
faces,  and  some  other  indications,  seem  to  point  to  a 
northern- Asiatic  ancestry;  but  they  cannot  tell  us 
even  so  much  as  we  can  guess.  There  have  been  among 
them,  now  and  again,  men  of  commanding  abilities  in 
war  and  negotiation;  but  their  influence  upon  their 
people  has  not  lasted  beyond  their  own  lives.  Amid 
the  roar  and  fever  of  these  latter  ages  they  stand 

18 


BEFORE    DAWN 

silent,  useless,  and  apathetic.  They  belong  to  our  his- 
tory only  in  so  far  as  their  savage  and  treacherous 
hostility  contributed  to  harden  the  fortitude  of  our 
earlier  settlers,  and  to  weld  them  into  a  united  people. 

Posterity  may  resolve  these  obscurities;  meanwhile 
they  remain  in  picturesque  contrast  to  the  merciless 
publicity  of  our  own  life,  and  the  scientific  annihila- 
tion of  time  and  distance.  They  are  as  the  dark  and 
amorphous  loam  in  which  has  taken  root  the  Flower 
of  the  Ages,  If  extremes  must  meet,  it  was  fitting 
that  the  least  and  the  most  highly  developed  examples 
of  mankind  should  dwell  side  by  side,  at  the  close  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  in  a  land  to  which  neither  is 
native:  that  Europe,  the  child  of  Asia,  should  meet  its 
prehistoric  parent  here,  and  work  out  its  destiny  be- 
fore her  uncomprehending  eyes.  The  world  is  an  inn 
of  strange  meetings;  and  this  encounter  is  perhaps  the 
strangest  of  all. 

The  most  dangerous  enemy  of  America  has  been — 
not  Spain,  France,  England,  or  any  other  nation  in 
arms,  but — our  own  material  prosperity.  The  lessons 
of  adversity  we  took  to  heart,  and  they  brought  forth 
wholesome  fruit,  purifying  our  blood  and  toughening 
our  muscles.  So  long  as  the  Spirit  of  Liberty  was 
threatened  from  without  she  was  safe  and  triumphant. 
But  when  her  foes  abroad  had  ceased  to  harry  her  a 
foe  far  more  insidious  began  to  plot  against  her  in  her 
own  house.  The  tireless  energy  and  ingenuity  which 
are  our  most  salient  characteristics,  and  which  had 
rendered  us  formidable  and  successful  on  sea  and  land, 
were  turned  by  peace  into  productive  channels.  The 
enormous  natural  resources  of  the  continent  began  to 
receive  development;  men  who  under  former  conditions 
would  have  been  admirals  and  generals,  now  became 
leaders  in  commerce,  manufactures  and  finance;  they 
made  great  fortunes,  and  set  up  standards  of  emulation 
other  than  patriotism  and  public  spirit.  Like  the  old 
Spanish  and  English  adventurers,  they  sought  for 
gold,  and  held  all  other  things  secondary  to  that.  An 
anomalous  oligarchy  sprang  into  existence,  holding  no 
ostensible  political  or  social  sway,  yet  influential  in 

19 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

both  directions  by  virtue  of  the  power  of  money.  Money 
can  be  possessed  by  the  evil  as  well  as  by  the  good,  and 
it  can  be  used  to  tempt  the  good  to  condone  evil.  The 
exalted  maxim  of  human  equality  was  interpreted  to 
mean  that  all  Americans  could  be  rich;  and  the  spec- 
tacle was  presented  of  a  mighty  and  generous  nation 
fighting  one  another  for  mere  material  wealth.  In- 
evitably the  lower  and  baser  elements  of  the  popula- 
tion came  to  the  surface  and  seemed  to  rule;  the  ordi- 
nary citizen,  on  whom  the  welfare  of  the  State  depends, 
allowed  his  private  business  interest  to  wean  him  from 
the  conduct  of  public  affairs,  which  thereby  fell  into 
the  hands  of  professional  politicians,  who  handled  them 
for  their  personal  gain  instead  of  for  the  common  weal. 
We  forgot  that  pregnant  saying,  "Eternal  vigilance  is 
the  price  of  liberty,"  and  suffered  ourselves  to  be  per- 
suaded that  because  our  written  Constitution  was  a 
wise  and  patriotic  document,  we  were  forever  safe  even 
from  the  effects  of  our  own  selfishness  and  infidelity. 
As  some  men  are  more  skillful  and  persistent  man^pu- 
lators  of  money  than  others,  it  happened  that  the  capi- 
tal of  the  country  became  massed  in  one  place  and  was 
lacking  in  another;  the  numbers  of  the  poor,  and  of 
paupers,  increased;  and  the  rich  were  able  to  control 
their  political  action  and  sap  their  self-respect  by 
dominating  the  employment  market.  "Do  my  bidding, 
or  starve,"  is  a  cogent  argument ;  it  should  never  be  in 
the  power  of  any  man  to  offer  it ;  but  it  was  heard  over 
the  length  and  breadth  of  free  America.  The  efforts 
of  laboring  men,  by  organization,  to  check  the  power  of 
capitalists,  was  met  by  the  latter  with  organizations 
of  their  own,  which,  in  the  form  of  vast  "trusts"  and 
otherwise,  deprived  small  manufacturers  and  traders 
of  the  power  of  independent  self-support.  Strikes  and 
lockouts  were  the  natural  outcome  of  such  a  situation ; 
and  the  siflister  prospect  loomed  upon  us  of  labor  and 
capital  arrayed  against  each  other  in  avowed  hostility. 
/  Danger  from  this  cause,  however,  is  more  apparent 
than  actual.  The  remedy,  in  the  last  resort,  is  always 
in  ourselves.  Laws  as  to  land  and  contracts  may  be 
modified,  but  the  true  cure  for  all  such  injuries  and 

20 


BEFORE    DAWN 

inequalities  is  to  cease  to  regard  the  amassing  of 
"fortunes"  as  the  most  desirable  end  in  life.  The  land 
is  capable  of  supporting  in  comfort  far  more  than  its 
present  population;  ignorance  or  selfish  disregard  of 
the  true  principles  of  economy  have  made  it  seem  other- 
wise. The  proper  state  of  every  man  is  that  of  a 
producer;  the  craving  of  individuals  to  own  what  they 
have  not  fairly  earned  and  cannot  usefully  administer 
is  vain  and  disorderly.  Men  will  always  be  born  who 
have  the  genius  of  management;  and  others  who  re- 
quire to  have  their  energies  directed;  some  can  profita- 
bly control  resources  which  to  others  would  be  a  mis- 
chievous burden.  But  this  truth  does  not  involve  a"ny 
extravagant  discrepancy  in  the  private  means  and 
establishments  of  one  or  the  other;  each  should  have 
as  much  as  his  needs,  intelligence  and  taste  legitimately 
.warrant,  and  no  more.  Such  matters  will  gradually 
adjust  themselves,  once  the  broad  underlying  prin- 
ciple has  been  accepted.  Meanwhile  we  may  remem- 
ber that  national  health  is  not  always  synonymous 
with  peace.  It  was  the  warning  of  our  Lord — "I  am 
not  come  to  bring  peace,  but  a  sword."  The  war  which 
is  waged  with  powder  and  ball  is  often  less  contrary  to 
true  peace  than  the  war  which  exists  while  all  the 
outward  semblances  of  peace  are  maintained.  We  must 
not  be  misled  by  names.  America  is  perhaps  too  prone 
to  regard  herself  in  a  passive  light,  as  the  refuge 
merely  of  the  oppressed  and  needy;  but  she  has  an 
active  mission  too.  She  stands  for  so  much  that  is  con- 
trary to  the  ideas  that  have  hitherto  ruled  the  world 
that  she  can  hardly  hope  to  avoid  the  hostility,  and 
possibly  the  attacks,  of  the  representatives  of  the  old 
order.  These  she  must  be  able  and  ready  to  repel.  We 
have  freely  shed  our  blood  for  our  own  freedom;  and 
we  should  not  forget  that  though  charity  begins  at 
home  it  need  not  end  there.  We  should  not  inter- 
pret too  strictly  the  maxims  which  admonish  us  to 
mind  our  own  housekeeping,  and  to  avoid  entangle- 
ments with  the  quarrels  or  troubles  of  our  neighbors. 
We  should  not  say  to  the  tide  of  our  liberties,  Thus 
far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  further.  America  is  not  a 

21 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

geographical  expression,  and  arbitrary  geographical 
boundaries  should  not  be  permitted  to  limit  the  area 
which  her  principles  control.  We,  who  seek  to  bind 
the  other  nations  to  ourselves  by  ties  of  commerce, 
should  recognize  the  obligations  of  other  ties  whose 
value  cannot  be  expressed  in  money. 

America  wears  her  faults  upon  her  forehead,  not  in 
her  heart;  her  history  is  just  beginning;  she  herself 
dreams  not  yet  what  her  ultimate  destiny  will  be.  But 
so  far  as  her  brief  past  may  serve  as  a  key  wherewith 
to  open  the  future,  a  study  of  it  will  not  be  idle. 


22 


CHAPTER T 

RALEIGH,  AND  SMITH 

THE  records  will  have  it  that  America  was  discov- 
ered in  consequence  of  the  desire  of  Europe  to 
profit  by  the  commerce  of  Cathay,  which  had 
hitherto  reached  them  only  by  the  long  and  expensive 
process  of  a  journey  due  west.  One  caravan  had 
passed  on  the  spices  and  other  valuables  to  another 
until  they  reached  the  Mediterranean.  It  was  asked 
whether  the  trip  could  not  be  more  quickly  and  cheaply 
made  by  sea.  Assuming,  as  was  generally  done,  that 
the  earth  was  flat,  why  might  not  a  man  sail  round  the 
southern  extremity  of  Africa,  and  up  the  other  side 
to  the  Orient?  It  was  true  that  the  extremity  of 
Africa  might  extend  to  the  Southern  ice,  in  which  eaM 
this  plan  would  not  serve;  but  the  attempt  might  be 
worth  making.  This  was  the  view  of  Henry  of  Portugal, 
a  scientific  and  ingenious  prince,  whose  life  covered 
the  first  sixty  years  of  the  Fifteenth  Century.  And 
Portuguese  mariners  did  accordingly  sail  their  little 
ships  f;u-  <!<>\vn  the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  Dark  Con- 
tinent; but  they  did  not  venture  quite  far  enough 
until  long  after  good  Prince  Henry  was  dead,  and 
Columbus  had  (in  his  own  belief)  pioneered  a  shorter 
way. 

Columbus  was  a  theorist  and  a  visionary.  Many  men 
who  have  been  able  to  show  much  more  plausible 
grounds  for  their  theories  than  he  could  for  his  have 
died  the  laughingstock  of  the  world.  Columbus  was 
a  laughingstock  for  nearly  twenty  years;  but  though 
the  special  application  of  his  theory  was  absurdly 
wrong,  yet  in  principle  it  chanced  to  be  right ;  and  he 
was  so  fortunate  as  to  be  empowered  to  bring  it  to  a 
practical  demonstration.  His  notion  was  that  the  earth 
was  not  flat,  but  round.  Therefore  the  quickest  route  to 

23 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  extreme  East  must  be  in  exactly  the  opposite  di- 
rection; the  globe,  he  estimated,  could  not  be  much 
over  fifteen  thousand  miles  in  girth;  Cathay,  by  the 
land  route,  was  twelve  thousand  miles  or  so  east  of 
Europe;  consequently  the  distance  west  could  not  be 
more  than  three  thousand.  This  could  be  sailed  over 
in  a  month  or  two,  and  the  saving  in  time  and  trouble 
would  be  immense.  Thus  did  he  argue — shoving  the 
Atlantic  into  the  Pacific  Ocean,  subtracting  six  or 
seven  thousand  miles  from  their  united  breadth,  and 
obliterating  entirely  that  western  continent  which  he 
was  fated  to  discover,  though  he  was  never  to  suspect 
its  existence. 

The  heresy  that  the  earth  was  a  sphere  had  long  been 
in  existence;  Aristotle  being  the  earliest  source  to 
which  it  could  be  traced.  Sensible  people  did  not 
countenance  it  then,  any  more  than  they  accept  to-day 
the  conjecture  that  other  planets  than  this  may  be 
inhabited.  They  demonstrated  its  improbability  on 
historical  and  religious  grounds,  and  also  made  the 
point  that,  supposing  it  were  round,  and  that  Columbus 
were  to  sail  down  the  under  side  of  it,  he  would  never 
be  able  to  climb  back  again.  But  the  Genoese  was  a 
man  who  became  more  firmly  wedded  to  his  opinion  in 
proportion  as  it  met  with  ridicule  and  opposition; 
proofs  he  had  none  of  the  truth  of  his  pet  idea ;  but  he 
clung  to  it  with  a  doggedness  which  must  greatly  have 
exasperated  his  interlocutors.  By  dint  of  sheer  per- 
sistence, he  almost  persuaded  some  men  that  there 
might  be  something  in  his  project ;  but  he  never  brought 
any  of  them  to  the  pitch  of  risking  money  on  it.  It  was 
only  upon  a  woman  that  he  was  finally  able  to  prevail ; 
and  doubtless  the  intelligence  of  Isabella  of  Castile  was 
less  concerned  in  the  affair  than  was  her  feminine 
imagination.  Had  she  known  more,  she  would  have 
done  less.  But  so,  for  that  matter,  would  Columbus. 

Almost  as  little  is  known  of  the  personal  character 
of  this  man  as  of  Shakespeare's;  and  the  portraits  of 
him,  though  much  more  numerous  than  those  of  the 
poet,  are  even  less  compatible  with  one  another.  The 
estimates  and  conjectures  of  historians  also  differ; 

24 


COLUMBUS,    RALEIGH,    AND    SMITH 

some  describe  a  pious  hero  and  martyr,  others  a  disso- 
lute adventurer  and  charlatan.  We  are  constrained,  in 
the  end,  to  construct  his  effigy  from  our  own  best  in- 
terpretation of  the  things  he  did.  Some  little  learn- 
ing he  had ;  just  enough,  probably,  to  disturb  the 
balance  of  his  judgment.  He  could  read  Latin  and 
make  maps,  and  he  had  ample  experience  of  practical 
navigation.  His  life  as  a  mariner  got  him  the  habit  of 
meditation,  and  this  favored  the  espousal  of  theories, 
which,  upon  occasion,  he  could  expound  with  volubility 
or  defend  with  passion,  as  his  Italian  temperament 
prompted.  His  imagination  was  portentous,  and  the 
Fifteenth  Century  was  hospitable  to  this  faculty ;  there 
was  nothing — except  plain  but  unknown  facts — too 
marvelous  to  be  believed;  and  that  Columbus  was  even 
more  credulous  than  his  contemporaries  is  proved  by 
the  evidence  that  even  facts  were  not  exempt  from  his 
entertainment.  An  ordinary  appetite  for  the  marvelous 
could  swallow  stories  of  chimeras  dire,  and  men  whose 
heads  do  grow  beneath  their  shoulders;  but  nothing 
short  of  the  profligate  capacity  of  a  Columbus  could 
digest  such  a  proposition  as  that  the  earth  was  round 
and  could  be  circumnavigated.  The  type  of  half-edu- 
cated fanatics  to  which  he  belonged  has  always  been 
common;  there  is  nothing  exceptional  or  remarkable 
in  this  fanatic  except  the  fortune  which  finally  at- 
tended his  lifelong  devotion  to  the  most  improbable 
hypothesis  of  his  time.  It  has  been  our  custom  to 
eulogize  his  courage  and  his  constancy  to  the  truth; 
but  if  he  had  adopted  perpetual  motion,  instead  of  the 
rotundity  of  the  earth,  as  his  dogma,  he  would  have 
deserved  our  praises  just  as  much.  His  sole  claim  to 
our  admiration  is  that,  in  the  teeth  of  all  precedent 
and  likelihood,  he  succeeded  by  one  mistake  in  making 
another:  because  he  fancied  that  by  sailing  west  he 
could  find  the  Indies  he  blundered  upon  a  land  whose 
identity  he  never  discovered.  Doubtless  his  blunder- 
was  of  unspeakable  value;  but  a  blunder  not  the  less 
it  was;  while,  as  to  his  courage  and  perseverance,  as 
much  has  been  shown  by  a  thousand  other  scientific 
and  philosophical  heretics,  whose  names  have  not  sur- 

25 


vived  because  the  thing  they  imagined  turned  out  an 
error. 

From  another  point  of  view,  however,  Columbus  is 
specially  a  creature  of  his  age.  It  was  an  age  which 
felt,  it  knew  not  why,  that  something  new  must  come 
to  pass.  The  resources  of  Europe  were  exhausted; 
men  had  reached  the  end  of  their  tether,  and  demanded 
admittance  to  some  wider  pasturage.  It  was  much 
such  a  predicament  as  obtains  now,  four  hundred  years 
later;  we  feel  that  changes — enlargements — are  due, 
but  know  not  what  or  whence.  The  conception  of  a 
voyage  across  the  Atlantic,  in  that  age,  seemed  as 
captivating,  and  almost  as  fantastic,  as  a  trip  to  the 
Moon  or  Mars  would  to  an  adventurer  of  our  time. 
Given  the  vehicle,  no  doubt  many  volunteers  would 
offer  for  the  journey;  Columbus  could  get  a  ship,  but 
the  chances  of  his  arriving  at  his  proposed  destination 
must  have  appeared  as  problematical  to  him  as  the 
Moon  enterprise  in  a  balloon  would  to  a  world-weary 
globe-trotter  of  to-day.  It  was  not  merely  that  the 
ship  was  small  and  the  Atlantic  large  and  stormy; 
there  were  legends  of  vast  whirlpools,  of  abysmal 
oceanic  cataracts,  of  sea  monsters,  malignant  genii,  and 
other  portents  not  less  terrifying  and  fatal.  Columbus 
would  not  have  been  surprised  at  falling  in  with  any 
of  these  things;  but  the  physical  courage  which  must 
have  been  his  most  prominent  trait,  added  to  incorrigi- 
ble pride  of  opinion,  brought  him  through. 

But  the  significant  feature  of  his  achievement  is, 
not  that  he  sailed  or  that  he  arrived,  but  that  he  was 
impelled,  irresistibly  as  it  were,  to  make  the  attempt. 
He  made  it  because  it  was  the  one  thing  left  in  the 
world  that  seemed  worth  doing;  it  was  the  only  ap- 
parent way  of  escape  from  the  despair  of  the  familiar 
and  habitual;  it  was  an  adventure  charged  with  all 
unknown  possibilities;  once  conceived,  it  must  be  exe- 
cuted at  whatever  cost.  Columbus  was  fascinated ;  the 
unknown  drew  him  like  a  magnet;  he  was  the  in- 
voluntary deputy  of  his  period  to  incarnate  its  yearn- 
ings in  act.  The  hour  had  struck;  and  with  it,  as  al- 
ways, appeared  the  man.  So  it  has  ever  been  in  the 

26 


COLUMBUS.    RALEIGH,    AND    SMITH 

history  of  the  world;  though  we,  with  characteristic 
vanity,  uniformly  put  the  cart  before  the  horse,  and 
declare  that  it  is  the  man  that  brings  the  hour. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  Columbus  was  fitted  out  with 
three  boats  by  the  Spanish  king  and  queen,  set  sail 
from  Spain  on  the  3d  of  August,  1492,  and  arrived  at 
one  of  the  Caribbean  islands  on  the  12th  of  October  of 
the  same  year.  He  supposed  that  he  had  found  an  East 
Indian  archipelago;  and  with  the  easy  emotional  piety 
of  his  time  and  temperament,  he  fell  on  his  knees  and 
thanked  God,  and  took  possession  of  everything  in 
sight  in  the  name  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

The  deed  had  been  done,  and  Columbus  had  his  re- 
ward. It  would  have  been  well  for  him  had  he  rec- 
ognized this  fact,  and  not  tried  to  get  more.  He  had 
found  land  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic;  what  no 
other  man  had  believed  possible  he  had  accomplished; 
he  had  carried  his  point,  and  proved  his  thesis — or  one 
so  much  resembling  it  that  he  never  knew  the  difference. 
This,  and  not  a  more  sordid  hope,  had  been  the  real 
motive  power  of  his  career  up  to  this  time ;  and  the  mo- 
ment when  the  light  from  another  world  gleamed 
arross  the  water  to  his  hungry  eyes  had  been  the  hap- 
piest that  he  had  ever  known,  or  would  know.  A 
mighty  hope  had  been  fulfilled;  the  longing  of  an  age 
had  been  gratified  in  his  triumph;  a  fresh  chapter  in 
the  world's  history  had  been  begun.  The  thoughts  and 
emotions  that  surged  through  the  ardent  Italian,  as 
he  knelt  on  that  coral  beach,  were  lofty  and  unselfish : 
as  were,  in  truth,  those  of  the  age  whose  representative 
he  was,  when  it  saw  him  depart  on  his  adventure.  But 
before  the  man  of  destiny  had  risen  from  his  knees  he 
had  ceased  to  act  \  as  the  instrument  of  God,  and  had 
begun  to  think  of  personal  emoluments.  So  much  he 
must  make  over  to  Spain;  so  much  he  might  keep  for 
himself;  so  much  was  promised  to  his  shipmates.  He 
would  be  famous — yes:  and  rich  and  powerful  too;  he 
would  be  a  great  vicegerent;  his  attire  should  be  of 
silk  and  velvet,  with  a  gold  chain  about  his  neck,  and 
gems  on  his  hauds.  So  adversity  set  his  name  among 
the  stars,  and  prosperity  abased  his  soul  to  dust.  The 

27 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

remaining  years  of  his  life  were  a  fruitless  struggle  to 
secure  what  he  deemed  his  rightful  wages — to  coin  his 
immortal  exploit  into  ducats ;  and  his  end  was  sorrow- 
ful and  dishonored.  The  proud  self-abnegation  of  the 
ancient  Roman  was  lacking  in  the  medieval  Genoese. 

The  white-maned  horses  of  the  Atlantic  once  mas- 
tered, there  came  riders  enough.  During  the  next  thirty 
years  such  men  as  Amerigo  Vespucci  (who  enjoyed 
the  not  singular  distinction  of  having  his  name  asso- 
ciated with  the  discovery  of  another  man),  the  Cabots, 
father  and  son ;  Balboa,  and  Magellan,  crossed  the  sea 
and  visited  the  new  domain.  Magellan  performed  the 
only  unprecedented  feat  left  for  mariners  by  sailing 
round  the  earth  by  way  of  the  South  American  straits 
that  bear  his  name;  but  Yasco  da  Gama  had  already 
entered  the  Pacific  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  It  was 
by  this  time  beginning  to  be  understood  that  the  new 
land  was  really  new,  and  not  the  other  side  of  the  old 
one ;  but  this  only  prompted  the  adventurers  to  get  past 
or  through  it  to  the  first  goal  of  their  ambition.  They 
had  not  yet  realized  the  vastness  of  the  Pacific,  and 
took  America  to  be  a  mere  breakwater  protecting  the 
precious  shores  of  Cathay.  Later  they  found  that 
America  repaid  looting  on  her  own  account ;  but  mean- 
while there  was  set  on  foot  that  search  for  the  North- 
west Passage  which  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  almost 
everything  except  the  Passage  itself.  To  the  craze  for 
a  Northwest  Passage  is  due  the  exploration  of  Baffin 
and  Hudson  Bays,  of  the  Gulf  and  River  of  St.  Law- 
rence, and  of  the  Great  Lakes;  the  establishment  of 
the  English  and  French  fur-trading  companies,  which 
hastened  the  development  of  Canada;  and  the  settle- 
ment of  Oregon  and  Washington.  It  led  English  and 
Spanish  explorers  and  freebooters  up  the  California 
coast,  and  on  to  Vancouver  and  Bering  Straits ;  Alaska 
was  circumvented,  and  the  Northwest  Passage  was 
found,  though  the  everlasting  ice  mocked  the  efforts  of 
the  finders.  In  short,  the  entire  continent  was  tapped 
and  sounded  with  a  view  to  forcing  a  way  through  or 
round  it ;  and  by  the  time  the  attempt  was  finally  given 
up,  the  contour,  size,  and  possible  value  of  America  had 

28 


COLUMBUS,    RALEIGH,    AND    SMITH 

been  estimated  much  more  quickly  and  accurately  than 
they  would  have  been  had  not  India  lain  west  of  it. 

All  this  time  Spain  had  been  having  the  best  of  the 
bargain.  She  had  fastened  upon;  the  West  Indies,  Mex- 
ico, and  Central  and  South  America,  and  had  found 
gold  there  in  abundance;  she  bade  other  nations  keep 
hands  off,  and  was  less  solicitous  than  they  about  the 
rumored  riches  of  the  Orient.  Spain,  in  those  days, 
wus  held  to  be  invincible  on  the  sea;  England's  fight 
with  the  Spanish  Armada  was  yet  to  come.  But  there 
were  already  Englishmen  of  the  Drake  and  Frobisher 
type  who  liked  nothing  better  than  to  capture  a  Span- 
ish galleon,  and  "singe  the  King  of  Spain's  beard"; 
and  these  independent  sea  rovers  were  becoming  so  bold 
and  numerous  as  to  put  the  Spaniards  to  serious  in- 
convenience and  loss.  But  the  latter  could  not  be 
ousted  from  their  vantage  ground;  so  the  English  pres- 
ently bethought  themselves  that  there  might  be  gold 
iu  the  more  northerly  as  well  as  in  the  central  parts 
of  the  Continent;  and  they  turned  to  seek  it  there. 
Nothing  is  more  noticeable  in  every  phase  of  these 
events  than  the  constant  involuntary  accomplishment 
of  something  other — and  in  the  end  better — than  the 
thing  attempted.  As  Columbus,  looking  for  Indian 
spices,  found  America;  as  seekers  of  all  nations,  iu 
their  quest  for  a  Northwest  Passage,  charted  and  de- 
veloped the  Continent;  so  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  his 
nmtpanions,  hunting  for  gold  along  the  northern  At- 
lantic seaboard,  took  the  first  steps  toward  founding 
the  colonies  which  were  in  the  sequel  to  constitute  the 
germ  of  the  present  United  States. 

Queen  Elizabeth  was  on  the  throne  of  England ;  more 
than  ninety  years  had  passed  since  Columbus  had 
landed  on  his  Caribbean  island.  In  1565  a  colony  of 
French  Huguenots  at  St.  Augustine  had,  by  a  charac- 
teristic act  of  Spanish  treachery,  been  massacred,  men, 
women,  and  children,  at  the  order  of  Meueudez,  and  the 
French  thus  wiped  out  of  the  southern  coast  of  North 
America  forever.  W'hile  England  remained  Catholic, 
the  influence  of  Papal  bulls  in  favor  of  Spanish  author- 
ity iu  America,  and  matrimonial  alliances  between  the 

29 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

royal  families  of  Spain  and  England,  had  restrained 
English  enterprise  in  the  west.  Henry  VIII  had  indeed 
acted  independently  both  of  the  Spaniard  and  of  the 
Pope;  but  it  was  not  until  Elizabeth's  accession  in 
1558,  bringing  Protestantism  with  her,  that  England 
ventured  to  assert  herself  as  a  nation  in  the  new-found 
world.  Willoughby  had  attempted,  in  1553,  the  pre- 
posterous enterprise  of  reaching  India  by  sailing  round 
Norway  and  the  north  of  Asia;  but  his  expedition  got 
no  further  than  the  Eussian  port  of  Archangel.  In 
1576  and  the  two  succeeding  years,  Martin  Frobisher 
went  on  voyages  to  Labrador  and  neighboring  regions, 
at  first  searching  for  the  Northwest  Passage,  afterward 
in  quest  of  gold.  The  only  result  of  his  efforts  was  the 
bringing  to  England  of  some  shiploads  of  earth,  which 
had  been  erroneously  supposed  to  contain  the  precious 
metal.  In  1578,  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  had  obtained  a 
patent  empowering  him  to  found  a  colony  somewhere 
in  the  north;  his  object  being  rather  to  develop  the 
fisheries  than  to  find  gold  or  routes  to  India.  He  was 
stepbrother  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  and  the  latter  started 
with  him  on  the  first  voyage;  but  they  were  forced  to 
put  back  soon  after  setting  out.  Gilbert  went  again 
in  1583,  and  reached  St.  John's,  where  he  erected  a  pil- 
lar commemorating  the  English  occupation ;  but  he  was 
drowned  in  a  storm  on  the  way  home.  Raleigh,  who 
had  stayed  in  England,  and  had  acquired  royal  favor 
and  a  fortune,  remained  to  carry  out,  in  his  own  way, 
the  designs  which  Gilbert's  death  had  left  in  suspense. 
In  1584  he  began  the  work. 

Raleigh  perhaps  deserves  to  be  regarded  as  the  great- 
est English  gentleman  who  ever  lived.  In  addition  to 
the  learning  of  his  time,  he  had  a  towering  genius,  in- 
domitable courage  and  constancy,  lofty  and  generous 
principles,  far-seeing  wisdom,  Christian  humanity,  and 
a  charity  that  gave  and  forgave  to  the  end.  He  was  a 
courtier  and  a  statesman,  a  soldier  and  a  sailor,  a  mer- 
chant and  an  explorer.  His  life  was  one  of  splendid 
and  honorable  deeds;  he  was  not  a  talker,  and  found 
scant  leisure  to  express  himself  in  writing;  though 
when  he  chose  to  write  poetry  he  approved  himself 

30 


COLUMBUS,    RALEIGH,    AND    SMITH 

best  in  the  golden  age  of  English  literature;  and  his 
"History  of  the  World,"  composed  while  imprisonment 
in  the  Tower  prevented  him  from  pursuing  more  aciive 
employments,  is  inferior  to  no  other  produced  up  to 
that  time.  Such  reverses  as  he  met  with  in  life  only 
spurred  him  to  fresh  efforts,  and  his  successes  were 
magnificent,  and  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  the  world. 
He  was  a  patriot  of  the  highest  and  purest  type;  a 
champion  of  the  oppressed ;  a  supporter  of  all  worthy 
enterprises,  a  patron  of  literature  and  art.  Withal,  he 
was  full  of  the  warm  blood  of  human  nature;  he  had 
all  the  fire,  the  tenderness,  and  the  sympathies  that 
may  rightly  belong  to  a  man.  The  mind  is  astonished 
in  contemplating  such  a  being;  he  is  at  once  so  close 
to  us,  and  so  much  above  the  human  average.  King 
James  I  of  England,  jealous  of  his  greatness,  irnpris 
oued  him  for  twelve  years,  on  a  groundless  charge,  and 
finally  slew  him,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six,  broken  by  dis- 
ease, and  saddened,  but  not  soured,  by  the  monstrous 
ingratitude  and  injustice  of  his  treatment.  Upon  the 
scaffold  he  felt  of  the  edge  of  the  ax  which  was  to 
behead  him,  and  smiled,  remarking,  "A  sharp  medicine 
to  cure  me  of  my  diseases!"  Such  are  the  exploits 
of  kings. 

Raleigh  was  the  first  man  who  perceived  that  Amer- 
ica was  to  be  the  home  of  a  white  people:  that  it 
was  to  be  a  dwelling  place,  not  a  mere  supply  house 
for  freebooters  and  home  traders.  He  resolved  to  do 
his  part  toward  making  it  so ;  he  impoverished  himself 
in  the  enterprise;  and  though  the  colony  which  he 
planted  in  what  is  now  North  Carolina,  but  was  then 
called  Virginia,  in  honor  of  the  Queen,  who  was  pleased 
thus  to  advertise  her  chastity — though  this  failed  (by 
no  fault  of  Raleigh's)  of  its  immediate  object,  yet  the 
lesson  thus  offered  bore  fruit  in  due  season,  and  the 
colonization  of  the  New  World,  shown  to  be  a  possi- 
bility and  an  advantage,  was  taken  up  on  the  lines 
Raleigh  had  drawn,  and  resulted  in  the  settlement 
whose  heirs  we  are. 

In  1585,  after  receiving  the  favorable  report  of  a  pre 
liniinary  expedition,  Raleigh   sent  out   upward  of   a 

31 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

hundred  colonists  under  the  command  of  Sir  Richard 
Grenville,  one  of  the  heroic  figures  of  the  time,  a  man 
of  noble  nature  but  fearful  passions.  They  lauded  on 
the  island  of  Roanoke,  off  the  mouth  of  the  river  of 
that  name,  and  were  well  received  by  the  native  tribes, 
who  thought  they  were  immortal  and  divine,  because 
they  were  without  women,  and  possessed  gunpowder. 
It  would  have  been  well  had  the  English  responded  in 
kind;  but  within  a  few  days,  Greuville,  angry  at  the 
nonproduction  of  a  silver  cup  which  had  been  stolen 
from  his  party  during  a  visit  to  a  village,  burned  the 
huts  and  destroyed  the  crops ;  and  later,  Lane,  who  had 
been  left  by  Grenville  in  command  of  the  colony,  in- 
vited the  principal  chief  of  the  region  to  a  friendly 
conference,  and  murdered  him.  This  method  of  pro- 
cedure would  not  have  been  countenanced  by  the  great 
promoter  of  the  expedition ;  nor  would  he  have  en- 
couraged the  hunt  for  gold  that  was  presently  under- 
taken. This  was  the  curse  of  the  time,  and  ever  led 
to  disaster  and  blood.  Nor  did  Lane  escape  the  delu- 
sion that  a  passage  could  be  found  through  the  land 
to  the  Indies ;  the  savages,  humoring  his  ignorance  for 
their  own  purposes,  assured  him  that  the  Roanoke 
River  (which  rises  some  two  hundred  miles  inland) 
communicated  with  the  Pacific  at  a  distance  of  but  a 
few  days'  journey.  Lane  selected  a  party  and  set  hope- 
fully forth  to  traverse  fifty  degrees  of  latitude;  but 
ere  long  his  provisions  gave  out,  and  he  was  forced  to 
go  starving  back  again.  He  arrived  at  the  settlement 
just  in  time  to  save  it  from  annihilation  by  the  Indians. 

But  there  were  able  men  among  these  colonists,  and 
some  things  were  done  which  were  not  foolish.  Hariot, 
who  had  scientific  knowledge,  and  was  a  careful  ob- 
server, made  notes  of  the  products  of  the  land,  and 
became  proficient  in  tobacco  smoking;  he  also  tested 
and  approved  the  potato,  and  in  other  ways  laid  the 
foundation  for  a  profitable  export  and  import  trade. 
John  White,  an  artist,  who  afterward  was  put  iu  charge 
of  another  colony,  made  drawings  of  the  natives  and 
their  appurtenances,  which  still  survive,  and  witness 
his  fidelity  and  skill.  Explorations  up  and  down  the 

U.S.— I    Voi.  I  32 


COLUMBUS,    RALEIGH,    AND    SMITH 

coast,  aiid  for  some  distance  inland,  were  made;  the 
salubrity  of  the  climate  was  eulogized,  and  it  was  ad- 
mitted that  the  soil  was  of  excellent  fertility.  In  short, 
nothing  was  lacking,  in  the  way  of  natural  conditions, 
to  make  the  colony  a  success;  yet  the  Englishmen  grew 
homesick  and  despondent,  and  longed  to  return  to  Eng- 
land and  English  women.  The  supplies  which  they 
were  expecting  from  home  had  not  arrived;  and  their 
situation  was  rendered  somewhat  precarious  by  the 
growing  hostility  of  the  natives,  who  had  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  these  godlike  white  men  were  not  per- 
sons with  whom  it  was  expedient  for  them  to  associate. 

At  this  juncture,  down  upon  the  coast  suddenly 
swooped  a  fleet  of  over  twenty  sail  with  the  English 
flag  flying,  and  no  less  a  personage  than  Sir  Francis 
Drake  in  command.  He  was  returning  from  a  profit- 
able pirating  expedition  against  the  Spaniards  in  the 
West  Indies,  and  desired  to  see  for  himself  how  the 
colony  sent  out  by  his  friend  Raleigh  was  prospering. 
Out  of  his  easily  got  abundance  he  generously  supplied 
the  needs  of  the  colonists,  and  presented  them  with  a 
ship  into  the  bargain,  in  which  they  might  sail  home 
should  circumstances  demand  it.  A  couple  of  his  most 
experienced  officers,  too,  were  added  to  the  gift  of  the 
generous  freebooter;  and  the  outlook  was  now  very 
different  from  what  it  had  been  a  few  days  before.  Yet 
fate  was  against  them;  or,  to  speak  more  accurately, 
they  had  lost  the  spirit  which  should  animate  pioneers, 
and  when  a  touch  of  bad  luck  was  added  to  their  in- 
disposition, they  incontinently  beat  a  retreat.  A  storm 
arose,  which  wrecked  the  ship  that  Drake  had  given 
them,  and  thus  deprived  them  of  the  means  of  escape 
in'  case  other  disasters  should  arrive.  They  besought 
Drake  to  take  them  home  with  him;  and  he,  with  in- 
exhaustible good  humor,  agreed  to  do  so.  His  fleet, 
with  the  slack-souled  colonists  on  board,  had  scarcely 
lost  sight  of  the  low  shores  of  Roanoke,  when  the  sup- 
ply ship  that  had  been  so  long  awaited  arrived  with 
all  the  requisites  for  subduing  the  wilderness  on  board. 
She  found  the  place  deserted,  and,  putting  about,  sailed 
for  home  again.  A  fortnight  later  came  Sir  Richard 

U.S.— 2    VOL.  I  33 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

Grenville  with  three  ships  more;  and  he,  being  of  a 
persistent  nature,  would  not  consent  to  lose  altogether 
the  fruit  of  the  efforts  which  had  been  made;  he  left 
fifteen  of  his  men  on  the  island,  to  carry  on  until  fresh 
colonists  could  be  brought  from  England.  But  before 
this  could  be  done  the  men  were  dead,  whether  by  the 
act  of  God  or  of  the  savages;  and  the  first  English 
experience  in  colonizing  America  was  at  an  end. 

The  story  of  the  second  colony,  immediately  sent  out 
by  Kaleigh,  ends  with  a  mystery  that  probably  hid  a 
tragedy.  Seventeen  women  and  two  children  accom- 
panied the  eighty-nine  men  of  the  party.  Having  es- 
tablished the  fact  that  the  laud  was  habitable  and 
cultivatable,  Ealeigh  perceived  that  in  order  to  render 
it  attractive  also  it  was  necessary  that  the  colonists 
should  have  their  helpmeets  with  them.  For  the  first 
time  in  history,  therefore,  the  feet  of  English  women 
pressed  our  soil,  and  the  voices  of  children  made  music 
in  the  woodland  solitudes.  It  had  been  designed  that 
the  more  commodious  bay  of  the  Chesapeake  should  be 
the  scene  of  this  settlement;  but  the  naval  officer  who 
should  have  superintended  the  removal  was  hungering 
for  a  West  Indian  trading  venture,  and  declined  to  act. 
They  perforce  established  themselves  in  the  old  spot, 
therefore,  where  the  buildings  were  yet  standing  on  the 
northern  end  of  the  little  island,  which,  though  de- 
serted now,  is  for  us  historic  ground.  The  routine  of 
life  began ;  and  before  the  ship  sailed  on  her  return  trip 
to  England,  the  daughter  of  the  governor  and  artist, 
John  White,  who  was  married  to  one  of  his  subordi- 
nates named  Dare,  had  given  birth  to  a  daughter,  and 
called  her  Virginia.  *She  was  the  first  child  of  English 
blood  who  could  be  claimed  as  American;  she  came 
into  the  world,  from  which  she  was  so  soon  to  vanish, 
on  the  18th  of  August,  1587.  White  returned  to  England 
with  the  ship  a  week  or  two  later.  He  was  to  return 
again  speedily  with  more  colonists,  and  further  sup- 
plies. But  he  never  saw  his  daughter  and  her  infant 
after  their  farewell  in  the  land-locked  bay.  He  reached 
England  to  find  Raleigh  and  all  the  other  strong  men 
of  England  occupied  with  plans  to  repel  the  invasion 

34 


COLUMBUS,    RALEIGH,    AND    SMITH 

that  threatened  from  Spain,  and  which,  in  the  shape  of 
the  Invincible  Armada,  was  to  be  met  and  destroyed  in 
the  English  Channel,  almost  on  the  first  anniversary  of 
the  birth  of  Virginia  Dare.  Nothing  could  be  done, 
at  the  moment,  to  relieve  the  people  at  Roanoke;  but 
in  April  of  1588,  Raleigh  found  time,  with  the  defense 
of  a  kingdom  on  his  hands,  to  equip  two  ships  and 
send  them  in  White's  charge  to  Virginia.  All  might 
have  been  well  had  White  been  content  to  attend  with 
a  single  eye  to  the  business  in  hand ;  but  the  seas  were 
full  of  vessels  which  could  be  seized  and  stripped  of 
their  precious  cargoes,  and  White  thought  it  would  be 
profitable  to  imitate  the  exploits  of  Drake  and  Gren- 
ville,  and  take  a  few  prizes  to  Roanoke  with  him.  But 
he  was  the  ass  in  the  lion's  hide.  One  of  his  ships  was 
itself  attacked  and  gutted,  and  with  the  other  he  fled 
in  terror  back  to  London.  Raleigh  could  not  help  him 
now ;  his  own  fortune  was  exhausted ;  and  it  was  not 
until  the  Armada  had  come  and  gone,  and  the  country 
had  in  a  measure  recovered  itself  from  the  shocks  of 
war,  that  succor  could  be  attempted.  The  charter  which 
had  been  granted  to  Raleigh  enabled  him  to  give  liberal 
terms  to  a  company  of  merchants  and  others,  who  on 
their  part  could  raise  the  funds  for  the  voyage.  But 
though  Raleigh  executed  this  patent  in  the  spring  of 
1589,  it  was  not  until  more  than  a  year  afterward  Hint 
the  expedition  was  ready  to  sail.  White  went  with 
them,  and  we  may  imagine  with  what  straining  eyes 
he  scanned  the  spot  where  he  had  last  beheld  his  daugh- 
ter and  grandchild,  as  the  ship  glided  up  the  inlet. 
But  no  one  came  forth  between  the  trees  to  wave  a 
greeting  to  his  long-deferred  return ;  there  were  no  fig- 
ures on  the  shore,  no  smoke  of  family  fires  rose  heaven- 
ward ;  families  and  hearths  alike  were  gone.  The  place 
was  a  desert.  Little  Virginia  Dare  and  the  Lost  Col- 
ony of  Roanoke  had  already  passed  out  of  history, 
leaving  no  clew  to  their  fate  except  the  single  word 
"CROATAN"  inscribed  on  the  bark  of  a  tree.  It 
was  the  name  of  an  island  further  down  the  coast; 
and  had  White  gone  thither,  he  might  even  yet  have 
found  the  lost  But  he  was  a  man  unfitted  in  all  re- 

35 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

spects  to  live  in  that  age  and  take  part  in  its  enterprise. 
He  was  a  soft,  feeble,  cowardly  and  unfaithful  creature, 
yet  vain  and  ambitious,  and  eager  to  share  the  fame 
of  men  immeasurably  larger  and  worthier  than  he.  He 
could  draw  pictures,  but  he  could  not  do  deeds;  and 
now,  after  having  deserted  those  to  whom  he  had  been 
in  honor  bound  to  cleave,  he  pleaded  the  excuse  of  bad 
weather  and  the  lateness  of  the  season  for  abandoning 
them  once  more ;  and,  reembarking  on  his  ship,  he  went 
back  with  all  his  company  to  England.  It  was  the  das- 
tardly ending  of  the  first  effort,  nobly  conceived,  and 
supported  through  five  years,  to  engraft  the  English 
race  in  the  soil  of  America. 

Tradition  hazards  the  conjecture  that  the  Roanoke 
colony,  or  some  of  them,  were  cared  for  by  the  friendly 
Indians  of  Hatteras.  There'  was  a  rumor  that  seven 
of  them  were  still  living  twenty  years  after  White's 
departure.  But  no  certain  news  was  ever  had  of  them, 
though  several  later  attempts  to  trace  them  were  made. 
Between  the  time  when  their  faint-hearted  governor 
had  deserted  them,  and  his  return,  three  years  had 
passed;  and  if  they  were  not  early  destroyed  by  the 
hostile  tribes,  they  must  have  endured  a  more  lingering 
pain  in  hoping  against  hope  for  the  white  sails  that 
never  rose  above  the  horizon.  Most  of  them,  if  not  all, 
were  doubtless  massacred  by  the  Indians,  if  not  -at 
once,  then  when  it  became  evident  that  no  succor  was 
to  be  expected  for  them.  Some,  possibly,  were  carried 
into  captivity;  and  it  may  be  that  Virginia  Dare  her- 
self grew  up  to  become  the  white  squaw  of  an  Indian 
brave,  and  that  her  blood  still  flows  in  the  veins  of 
some  unsuspected  red  man.  But  it  is  more  likely  that 
she  died  with  the  others,  one  of  the  earliest  and  most 
innocent  of  the  victims  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  a 
great  idea. 

White  disappears  from  history  at  this  point;  but 
Raleigh  never  forgot  his  colony,  and  five  times,  at  his 
own  expense,  and  in  the  midst  of  events  that  might 
have  monopolized  the  energies  of  a  score  of  ordinary 
men,  he  dispatched  expeditions  to  gain  tidings  of  them. 
In  1595  he  himself  sailed  for  Trinidad,  on  the  northern 

36 


COLUMBUS,   RALEIGH,   AND    SMITH 

coast  of  South  America,  and  explored  the  river  Orinoco, 
nine  degrees  above  the  equator.  It  was  his  hope  to 
offset  the  power  of  Spain  in  Mexico  and  Peru  by  estab- 
lish ing  an  English  colony  in  Guiana.  Wars  claimed 
his  attention  during  the  next  few  years,  and  then  came 
his  long  imprisonment ;  but  in  1616,  two  years  before 
his  execution,  he  headed  a  last  expedition  to  the  south- 
ern coast  of  the  land  he  had  labored  so  faithfully  to 
unite  to  England.  It  failed  of  its  object,  and  Raleigh 
lost  his  head.  But  the  purpose  which  he  had  stead- 
fastly entertained  did  not  die  with  him ;  and  we  Ameri- 
cans claim  him  to-day  as  the  first  friend  and  father  of 
the  conception  of  a  great  white  people  beyond  the  sea. 
As  we  enter  the  Seventeenth  Century,  the  figure 
which  looms  largest  in  the  foreground  is  that  of  Cap- 
tain John  Smith,  Governor  of  the  colony  at  Jamestown 
in  1607.  But  the  way  was  prepared  for  him  by  a  man 
as  honorable,  though  less  distinguished,  Bartholomew 
Gosnold  by  name,  who  voyaged  to  the  New  England 
coast  in  1602,  and  was  the  first  to  set  foot  on  its  shores. 
The  first  land  he  sighted  was  what  is  now  called  Maine; 
thence  he  steered  southward,  and  disembarked  on  Cape 
Cod,  on  which  he  bestowed  that  name.  Proceeding  yet 
further  south,  between  the  islands  off  the  coast,  he 
finally  entered  the  inclosed  sound  of  Buzzard's  Bay, 
and  landed  on  the  island  of  Cuttyhunk.  Gosnold  was  a 
prudent  as  well  as  an  adventurous  man,  and  he  was  re- 
solved to  take  all  possible  precautions  against  being 
surprised  by  the  Indians.  On  Cuttyhunk  there  was  a 
large  pond,  and  in  the  pond  there  was  an  islet;  and 
Gosnold,  with  his  score  of  followers,  fixed  upon  this 
speck  of  rocky  earth  as  the  most  suitable  spot  in  the 
western  hemisphere  wherein  to  plant  the  roots  of  Eng- 
lish civilization.  They  built  a  hut  and  made,  a  boat, 
and  gathered  together  their  stores  of  furs  and  sassa- 
fras ;  but  these  same  stores  proved  their  undoing.  They 
could  not  agree  upon  an  equable  division  of  their 
wealth;  and  recognizing  that  disunion  in  a  strange 
land  was  weakness  and  peril,  they  all  got  into  their 
ship  and  sailed  back  to  England,  carrying  their  un- 
divided furs  and  sassafras  with  them.  By  this  mishap, 

37 

456535 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

New  England  missed  becoming  the  scene  of  the  first 
permanent  English  colony.    For  when,  five  years  after- 

1  ward,  Gosnold  returned  to  America  with  a  hundred 
men  and  adequate  supplies,  it  was  not  to  Buzzard's 
Bay,  but  to  the  month  of  the  James  River,  that  he 
steered,  and  on  its  banks  the  colony  was  founded.  Gos- 
nold himself  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  the  type  that 
afterward  made  the  New  England  whalers  famous  in 
all  seas;  the  mariners  of  New  Bedford,  New  London, 
Sag  Harbor  and  Nantucket.  But  the  companions  of  his 
second  voyage  were  by  no  means  of  this  stamp;  the 
bulk  of  them  were  "gentlemen,"  who  had  no  familiarity 
with  hard  fare  and  hard  work,  and  expected  nature  to 
provide  for  them  in  the  wilderness  as  bountifully  as 
the  London  caterers  had  done  at  home.  To  the  accident 
which  brought  Gosnold  to  a  southerly  instead  of  a 
northerly  port  on  this  occasion  may  be  due  the  fact 
that  Virginia  instead  of  Massachusetts  became  the 
home  of  the  emigrant  cavaliers.  Had  they,  as  well  as 
the  Puritans,  chosen  New  England  for  their  abiding 
place,  an  amalgamation  might  have  taken  place  which 
would  have  vitally  modified  later  American  history. 
But  destiny  kept  them  apart  in  place  as  well  as  in 
sentiment  and  training ;  and  it  is  only  in  our  own  day 
that  Reconstruction  and  the  development  of  means  of  ( 
intercommunication  bid  fair  to  make  a  homogeneous 

{people  out  of  the  diverse  elements  which  for  so  many 
generations  recognized  at  most  only  an  outward  polit- 
ical bond. 

Captain  John  Smith,  fortunately,  was  neither  a  . 
cavalier  nor  a 'simple  mariner,  but  a  man  in  a  class 
by  himself,  and  just  at  that  juncture  the  most  useful ' 
that  could  possibly  have  been  attached  to  this  adven- 
ture. His  career  even  before  the  present  period  had 
been  so  romantic  that,  partly  for  that  reason,  and 
partly  because  he  himself  was  his  own  chief  chronicler, 
historians  have  been  prone  to  discredit  or  modify  many 
of  its  episodes.  But  what  we  know  of  Smith  from  other 
than  a  Smith  source  tallies  so  well  with  the  stories 
which  rest  upon  his  sole  authority  that  there  seems  to 
be  no  sound  cause  for  rejecting  the  latter.  After  mak- 

38 


COLUMBUS,    RALEIGH,    AND    SMITH 

ing  all  deductions,  he  remains  a  remarkable  personage, 
and  his  influence  upon  the  promotion  of  the  English 
colonial  scheme  was  wholly  beneficial.  He  was  brave, 
ingenious,  indefatigable,  prudent  and  accomplished ;  he 
knew  what  should  be  done,  and  was  ever  foremost  in 
doing  it.  He  took  hold  of  the  helpless  and  slow-witted 
colonists  as  a  master  carpenter  handles  blocks  of  wood, 
and  transformed  them  into  an  efficient  and  harmonious 
structure,  strong  enough  to  withstand  the  first  onsets 
of  misfortune,  and  to  endure  until  the  arrival  of  re- 
cruits from  home  placed  them  beyond  all  danger  of 
calamity. 

Smith  was  born  in  England  in  1579,  and  was  there- 
fore only  twenty-eight  years  of  age  when  he  embarked 
with  Gosnold.  Yet  he  had  already  fought  in  the  Neth- 
erlands, starved  in  France,  and  been  made  a  galley 
slave  by  the  Moslem.  He  had  been  shipwrecked  at  one 
time,  thrown  overboard  at  another,  and  robbed  at  a 
third.  Thrice  had  he  met  and  slain  Turkish  champions 
in  the  lists ;  and  he  had  traversed  the  steppes  of  Russia 
with  only  a  handful  of  grain  for  food.  He  was  not  a 
man  of  university  education :  the  only  schooling  he  had 
had  was  in  the  free  schools  of  Alford  and  Louth,  before 
his  fifteenth  year;  his  father  was  a  tenant  farmer  in 
Lincolnshire,  and  though  John  was  apprenticed  to  a 
trade,  he  ran  away  while  a  mere  stripling,  and  shifted 
for  himself  ever  after.  An  adventurer,  therefore,  in  the 
fullest  sense  of  the  word,  he  was;  and  doubtless  he 
had  the  appreciation  of  his  own  achievements  which 
self-made  men  are  apt  to  have.  But  there  was  sterling 
pith  in  him,  a  dauntless  and  humane  soul,  and  inex- 
haustible ability  and  resource.  Such  a  man  could  not 
fail  to  possess  imagination,  and  imagination  and  self- 
esteem  combined  conduce  to  highly  colored  narrative; 
but  that  Smith  was  a  liar  is  an  unwarranted  assump- 
tion, which  will  not  be  countenanced  here. 

The  Gosnold  colony  had  provided  itself  with  a  char- 
ter, granted  by  King  James,  and  as  characteristic  of 
that  monarch  as  was  his  treatment  of  Raleigh.  It  was 
the  first  of  many  specimens  of  absentee  landlordism 
from  which  America  was  to  suffer.  It  began  by  setting 

39 


HISTOKY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

apart  an  enormous  stretch  of  territory,  bounded  on  the 
north  by  the  latitude  of  the  St.  Croix  Kiver,  and  on  the 
south  by  that  of  Cape  Fear,  and  extending  westward 
indefinitely.  To  this  domain  was  given  the  general  title 
of  Virginia.  It  was  subdivided  into  two  approximately 
equal  parts,  with  a  neutral  zone  between  them,  which 
covered  the  space  now  occupied  by  the  cities  of  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  and  Washington,  and  the  laud  ad- 
joining them.  The  northern  division  was  given  in 
charge  to  the  "Plymouth  Company,"  and  the  southern 
to  the  "London  Company";  they  were  separate  mer- 
cantile and  colonizing  organizations,  but  the  charter 
applied  to  both  alike. 

The  colonies  were  to  be  under  the  immediate  control 
of  a  council  composed  of  residents,  but  appointed  by 
the  King;  this  council  was  subordinate  to  another, 
meeting  in  England;  and  this  in  its  turn  was  subject 
to  the  King's  absolute  authority.  The  emigrants  were 
to  pay  a  yearly  rent  of  one-fifth  of  the  gold  and  silver 
produced,  and  a  third  as  much  of  the  copper.  A  five 
per  cent  duty  levied  on  alien  traffic  was  for  the  first 
five-and-twenty  years  to  inure  to  the  benefit  of  the 
colony,  but  afterward  should  be  the  exclusive  perqui- 
site of  the  Crown.  The  right  to  call  themselves  and 
their  children  English  was  permitted  to  the  emigrants ; 
and  they  were  also  allowed  to  defend  themselves  against 
attacks,  though  it  was  enjoined  upon  them  to  treat  the 
natives  with  kindness,  and  to  endeavor  to  draw  them 
into  the  fold  of  the  Church. 

Such  was  James's  idea  of  what  a  charter  for  an 
American  colony  should  be.  He  was  taking  much  for 
granted  when  he  assumed  the  right  to  control  the  emi- 
grants at  all;  and  he  was  careful  to  deprive  them  of 
any  chance  to  control  in  the  least  degree  their  own 
affairs.  America  was  to  be  the  abode  of  liberty;  but 
this  monarch  thought  only  of  making  it  a  field  for  his 
private  petty  tyranny.  The  colonists  were  to  be  his 
own  personal  slaves,  and  the  deputy  slaves  of  the  com- 
panies; after  discharging  all  their  obligations  to  him 
and  to  them,  they  might  do  the  best  they  could  for 
themselves  with  what  was  left,  provided  of  'course  that 

40 


COLUMBUS,   KALEIGH,   AND    SMITH 

they  strictly  observed  the  laws  which  his  Majesty  was 
kind  enough  also  to  draw  up  for  them,  the  provisions 
of  which  included  the  penalty  of  death  for  most  offenses 
above  petty  larceny.  A  colony  which,  amid  the  hard- 
ships and  unfamiliar  terrors  of  a  virgin  wilderness, 
could  enjoy  all  the  benefits  of  a  charter  like  this,  and 
yet  survive,  would  seem  hardy  enough  for  any  emer- 
gency. But  James  was  king,  and  kings,  in  those  days, 
if  they  pleased  no  one  else,  pleased  themselves. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  members  of  the  colony,  being 
persons  unused  to  the  practice  of  the  useful  arts,  were 
little  apt  to  succeed  even  under  the  most  favoring  con- 
ditions. But  they  had  Smith,  in  himself  a  host,  and 
a  few  other  good  heads  and  able  hands;  and  to  speak 
truth,  the  provisions  of  their  charter  do  not  seem  to 
have  unduly  embarrassed  them.  It  could  annoy  and 
hamper  them  occasionally,  but  only  themselves  could 
work  themselves  serious  injury ;  there  were  three  thou- 
sand miles  of  perilous  sea  water  between  their  paternal 
monarch  and~  them,  and  the  wilderness,  with  all  its 
drawbacks,  breeds  self-confidence  and  independence. 
The  mishaps  of  the  colony  were  due  to  the  shiftlessness 
of  most  of  its  members,  and  to  the  insalubrity  of  the 
site  chosen  for  their  city  of  Jamestown,  whereby  more 
than  half  of  them  perished  during  the  first  few  months. 
On  the  voyage  out,  Smith,  who  had  probably  made  him- 
self distasteful  to  the  gentlemen  adventurers  by  his 
unconventional  manners  and  conversation,  had  been 
placed  under  restraint — to  what  extent  is  not  exactly 
known;  and  when  the  sealed  orders  under  which  they 
had  sailed  were  opened,  and  it  was  found  that  Smith 
was  named  a  member  of  the  council,  he  was  for  some 
weeks  not  permitted  to  exercise  his  lawful  functions 
in  that  office.  When  the  troubles  began,  however,  the 
helpless  gentlemen  were  glad  to  avail  themselves  of  his 
services,  which  he  with  his  customary  good  humor  read- 
ily accorded  them ;  and  so  competent  did  he  show  him- 
self that  ere  long  he  was  in  virtual  command  of  them 
all.  The  usual  search  for  gold  and  for  the  passage 
through  the  continent  to  India  having  been  made,  with 
the  usual  result,  they  all  set  to  work  to  build  their 

41 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

fort  and  town,  and  to  provide  food  against  the  not 
improbable  contingency  of  famine.  As  crops  could  not 
be  raised  for  the  emergency,  Smith  set  out  to  traffic 
with  the  natives,  and  brought  back  corn  enough  for  the 
general  need.  All  this  while  he  had  been  contending 
with  a  prevalent  longing  on  the  part  of  the  colonists 
to  get  back  to  England;  there  was  no  courage  left  in 
them  but  his,  which  abounded  in  proportion  to  their 
need  for  it.  Prominent  among  the  malcontents  was  the 
deposed  Governor,  Wingfield,  who  tried  to  bribe  the 
colonists  to  return ;  another  member  of  the  council  was 
shot  for  mutiny.  In  the  end,  Smith's  will  prevailed, 
and  he  was  Governor  and  council  and  King  James  all 
in  one;  and  when,  at  the  beginning  of  winter,  he  had 
brought  the  settlement  to  order  and  safety,  he  started 
on  a  journey  of  exploration  up  the  Chickahominy.  He 
perceived  the  immense  importance  of  understanding  his 
surroundings,  and  at  the  same  time  of  establishing 
friendly  relations  with  the  neighboring  tribes  of  In- 
dians; and  it  was  obvious  that  none  but  he  (for  the 
excellent  Gosnold  had  died  of  fever  in  the  first  months 
of  the  settlement)  was  capable  of  effecting  these  ob- 
jects. Accordingly  he  proceeded  prosperously  toward 
the  headwaters  of  the  river,  a  dozen  miles  above  its 
navigable  point;  but  there,  all  at  once,  he  found  him- 
self in  the  midst  of  a  throng  of  frowning  warriors,  who 
were  evidently  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  his  investiga- 
tions, if  not  to  his  existence,  forthwith. 

Another  man  than  Smith  would  have  committed 
some  folly  or  rashness  which  would  have  precipitated 
his  fate;  but  Smith  was  as  much  at  his  ease  as  was 
Julius  Caesar  of  old  on  the  pirate's  ship.  His  two  con* 
panions  were  killed,  but  he  was  treated  as  a  prisoner 
of  rank  and  importance  by  the  brother  of  the  great 
chief  Powhatan,  by  whom  he  had  been  captured.  He 
interested  and  impressed  his  captors  by  his  conversa- 
tion and  his  instruments ;  and  at  the  same  time  he  kept 
his  eyes  and  ears  open,  and  missed  no  information  that 
could  be  of  use  to  himself  and  his  colony.  Powhatan 
gave  him  an  audience  and  seems  to  have  adopted  a  con- 
siderate attitude;  at  all  events  he  sent  him  back  to 

42 


COLUMBUS,    RALEIGH,    AND    SMITH 

Jamestown,  after  a  few  days,  unharmed,  and  escorted 
by  four  Indians,  with  a  supply  of  corn.  But  precisely 
what  occurred  during  those  few  days  we  shall  never 
certainly  know;  since  we  must  choose  between  accept- 
ing Smith's  unsupported  story,  only  made  public  years 
afterward,  and  believing  nothing  at  all.  Smith's  tale 
has  charmed  the  imagination  of  all  who  have  heard  it; 
nothing  could  be  more  prettily  romantic;  the  trouble 
with  it  is,  it  seems  to  most  people  too  pretty  and  ro- 
mantic to  be  true.  Yet  it  is  simple  enough  in  itself, 
and  not  at  all  improbable;  there  is  no  question  as  to 
the  reality  of  the  dramatis  personae  of  the  story,  and 
their  relations  one  to  another  render  such  an  episode 
as  was  alleged  hardly  more  than  might  reasonably  be 
looked  for. 

The  story  is — as  all  the  world  knows,  for  it  has  been 
repeated  all  over  the  world  for  nearly  three  hundred 
years,  and  has  formed  the  subject  of  innumerable  pic- 
tures— that  Powhatan,  for  reasons  of  high  policy  satis- 
factory to  himself,  had  determined  upon  the  death  of 
the  Englishman,  rightly  inferring  that  the  final  disap- 
pearance of  the  colony  would  be  the  immediate  sequel 
thereof.  The  sentence  was  that  Smith's  brains  were  to 
be  knocked  out  with  a  bludgeon ;  and  he  was  led  into 
the  presence  of  the  chief  and  the  warriors,  and  ordered 
to  lay  his  head  upon  the  stone.  He  did  so,  and  the 
executioners  poised  their  clubs  for  the  fatal  blow;  but 
it  never  fell.  For  Smith,  during  his  captivity,  had  won 
the  affection  of  the  little  daughter  of  Powhatan,  a  girl 
of  t«Mi,  whose  name  was  Pocahoutas.  She  was  too 
young  to  understand  or  fear  his  power  over  the  Indians ; 
but  she  knew  that  he  was  a  winning  and  fascinating 
being,  and  she  could  not  endure  that  he  should  be 
sacrificed.  Accordingly,  at  this  supreme  crisis  of  his 
career,  she  slipped  into  the  dreadful  circle,  and  threw 
herself  upon  Smith's  body,  so  that  the  blow  which  was 
aimed  at  his  life  must  kill  her  first.  She  clung  to  him 
and  would  not  be  removed,  until  her  father  had  prom- 
ised that  Smith  should  be  spared. 

So  runs  the  Captain's  narrative,  published  for  the 
first  time  in  1624,  after  Pocahontas's  appearance  in 

43 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

London,  and  her  death  in  1617.  Why  he  had  not  told 
it  before  is  difficult  to  explain.  Perhaps  he  had  prom- 
ised Powhatan  to  keep  it  secret,  lest  the  record  of  his 
sentimental  clemency  should  impair  his  authority  over 
the  tribes.  Or  it  may  have  been  an  embellishment  of 
some  comparatively  trifling  incident  of  Smith's  captiv- 
ity, suggested  to  his  mind  as  he  was  compiling  his 
"General  History  of  Virginia."  It  can  never  be  deter- 
mined ;  but  certainly  his  relations  with  the  Indian  girl 
were  always  cordial,  and  it  seems  unlikely  that  Pow- 
hatan would  have  permitted  him  to  return  to  James- 
town except  for  some  unusual  reason. 

Pocahontas's  life  had  vicissitudes  such  as  seldom 
befall  an  Indian  maiden.  Some  time  between  the  Smith 
episode  of  1607,  and  the  year  1612,  she  married  one  of 
her  father's  tributary  chiefs,  and  went  to  live  with  him 
on  his  reservation.  There  she  was  in  some  manner  kid- 
naped by  one  Samuel  Argall,  and  held  for  ransom.  The 
ransom  was  paid,  but  Pocahontas  was  not  sent  back; 
and  the  following  year  she  was  married  to  John  Kolfe, 
a  Jamestown  colonist,  and  baptized  as  Kebecca.  He 
took  her  to  London,  where  she  was  a  nine  days'  won- 
der; and  they  had  a  son,  whose  blood  still  flows  in  not 
a  few  American  veins  to-day.  If  she  was  ten  years  old 
in  1607,  she  must  have  been  no  more  than  twenty  at  the 
time  of  her  death  in  Gravesend,  near  London.  But  her 
place  in  American  history  is  secure,  as  well  as  in  the 
hearts  of  all  good  Americans.  She  was  the  heroine  of 
the  first  American  romance;  and  she  is  said  to  have 
been  as  beautiful  as  all  our  heroines  should  rightly  be. 

When  Smith,  with  his  Indian  escort,  got  back  to 
Jamestown,  he  was  just  in  season  to  prevent  the  colony 
from  running  away  in  the  boat.  Soon  after  a  new  con-, 
signment  of  emigrants  and  supplies  arrived  from  Eng- 
land ;  but  again  there  were  fewer  men  than  gentlemen, 
and  Smith  sent  back  a  demand  for  "rather  thirty  car- 
penters, husbandmen,  gardeners,  fishermen,  blacksmiths, 
masons,  and  diggers  up  of  trees'  roots,  well  provided, 
than  a  thousand  of  such  as  we  have."  There  spoke  the 
genuine  pioneer,  whose  heart  is  in  his  work,  and  who  can 
postpone  "gentility"  until  it  grows  indigenously  out  of 


COLUMBUS,   KALEIGH,   AND    SMITH 

the  soil.  The  company  at  home  were  indignant  that 
their  colony  had  not  ere  now  reimbursed  them  for  their 
expenditure,  and  much  more;  and  they  sent  word  that 
unless  profits  were  forthcoming  forthwith  (one-fifth  of 
the  gold  and  silver,  and  so  forth)  they  would  abandon 
the  colony  to  its  fate.  One  cannot  help  admiring  Smith 
for  refraining  from  the  obvious  rejoinder  that  to  be 
abandoned  was  the  dearest  boon  that  they  could  crave ; 
but  a  sense  of  humor  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  few 
good  qualities  which  the  Captain  did  not  possess.  He 
intimated  to  the  company  that  money  was  not  to  be 
picked  up  ready  made  iu  Virginia,  but  must  be  earned 
by  hard  work  with  hands  and  heads  in  the  field  and 
forest.  It  is  his  distinction  to  have  been  the  first  man 
of  eminence  visiting  the  new  world  who  did  not  think 
more  of  finding  gold,  or  the  passage  to  India,  or  both, 
than  of  anything  else.  Smith  knew  that  in  this  world, 
new  or  old,  men  get  what  they  work  for,  and  in  the 
long  run  no  more  than  that;  and  he  made  his  gentle- 
men colonists  take  off  their  coats  and  blister  their  gen- 
tlemanly hands  with  the  use  of  the  spade  and  the  ax. 
It  is  said  that  they  excelled  as  woodcutters,  after  due 
instruction ;  and  they  were  undoubtedly  in  all  respects 
improved  by  this  first  lesson  in  Americanism.  The 
American  ax  and  its  wielders  have  become  famous  since 
that  day;  and  the  gentlemen  of  Jamestown  may  enjoy 
the  credit  of  having  blazed  the  way. 

Fresh  emigrants  kept  coming  in,  of  a  more  or  less 
desirable  quality,  as  is  the  case  with  emigrants  still. 
Some  of  them  had  been  sent  out  by  other  organizations 
than  the  London  Company,  and  bred  confusion;  but 
Smith  was  always  more  than  equal  to  the  emergency, 
and  kept  his  growing  brood  in  hand.  He  had  the  satis- 
faction of  feeling  that  he  was  the  right  man  in  the  right 
place ;  and  let  the  grass  grow  under  neither  his  feet  nor 
theirs.  The  abandonment  threat  of  the  London  Com- 
pany led  him  to  take  measures  to  make  the  colony 
independent  so  far  as  food  was  concerned,  and  a  tract 
of  land  was  prepared  and  planted  with  corn.  Traffic 
for  supplies  with  the  Indians  was  systematized ;  and  by 
the  time  Smith's  year  of  office  had  expired  the  James- 

45 


HISTORY   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES 

town  settlement  was  self -supporting,  and  forever  placed 
beyond  the  reach  of  annihilation — though,  the  very  year 
after  he  had  left  it,  it  came  within  measurable  distance 
thereof. 

He  now  returned  to  England,  and  never  revisited 
Jamestown;  but  he  by  no  means  relaxed  his  interest 
in  American  colonization,  or  his  efforts  to  promote  it. 
In  1614  he  once  more  sailed  westward  with  two  ships, 
on  a  trading  and  exploring  enterprise,  which  was  suc- 
cessful. He  examined  and  mapped  the  northern  coast, 
already  seen  by  Gosnokl,  and  bestowed  upon  the  coun- 
try the  name  of  New  England.  Traditions  of  his  pres- 
ence and  exploits  are  still  told  along  the  shores  of 
Maine,  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts.  In  the  year 
following  he  tried  to  found  a  small  colony  somewhere 
in  these  regions,  but  was  defeated  by  violent  storms; 
and  at  a  subsequent  attempt  he  fell  in  with  French 
pirates,  and  his  ship  and  fortune  were  lost,  though  he 
himself  escaped  in  an  open  skiff :  the  chains  were  never 
forged  that  could  hold  this  man.  Nor  was  his  spirit 
broken;  -he  took  his  map  and  his  description  of  New 
England,  and  personally  canvassed  all  likely  persons 
with  a  view  to  fitting  out  a  new  expedition.  In  1617, 
aided  perhaps  by  the  interest  which  Pocahontas  had 
aroused  in  London,  he  was  promised  a  fleet  of  twenty 
vessels,  and  the  title  of  Admiral  of  New  England  was 
bestowed  upon  him.  Admiral  he  remained  till  his 
death ;  but  the  fleet  he  was  to  command  never  put  forth 
to  sea.  A  ship  more  famous  than  any  he  had  captured 
was  to  sail  for  New  England  in  1620,  and  land  the  Pil- 
grims on  Plymouth  Rock.  Smith's  active  career  was 
over,  though  he  was  but  eight-and-thirty  years  of  age, 
and  had  fifteen  years  of  life  still  before  him.  He  had 
drunk  too  deeply  of  the  intoxicating  cup  of  adven- 
ture and  achievement  ever  to  be  content  with  a  duller 
draft;  and  from  year  to  year  he  continued  to  use 
his  arguments  and  representations  upon  all  who  would 
listen.  But  he  no  longer  had  money  of  his  own,  and 
he  was  forestalled  by  other  men.  He  was  to  have  no 
share  in  the  development  of  the  country  which  he  had 
charted  and  named.  At  the  time  of  his  death  in  Lon- 

46 


COLUMBUS,   RALEIGH,   AND    SMITH 

don  in  1632,  poor  and  disappointed,  Plymouth,  Salem, 
and  Boston  had  been  founded,  Virginia  had  entered 
Upon  a  new  career,  and  Maryland  had  been  settled  by 
ihe  Catholics  under  Lord  Baltimore.  The  Dutch  had 
created  New  Amsterdam  on  Manhattan  Island  in  1623 ; 
and  the  new  nation  in  the  new  continent  was  fairly 
under  way. 

Jamestown,  as  has  been  said,  narrowly  escaped  ex- 
tinction in  the  winter  of  1609.  The  colonists  found 
none  among  their  number  to  fill  Smith's  place,  and  soon 
relapsed  into  the  idleness  and  improvidence  which  he 
had  so  resolutely  counteracted.  They  ate  all  the  food 
which  he  had  laid  up  for  them,  and  when  it  was  gone 
the  Indians  would  sell  them  no  more.  Squads  of  hun- 
gry men  began  to  wander  about  the  country,  and  many 
of  them  were  murdered  by  the  savages.  The  mortality 
within  the  settlement  was  terrible,  and  everything  that 
could  be  used  as  food  was  eaten ;  at  length  cannibalism 
was  begun ;  the  body  of  an  Indian,  and  then  the  starved 
corpses  of  the  settlers  themselves  were  devoured.  Many 
crawled  away  to  perish  in  the  woods ;  others,  more  ener- 
getic, seized  a  vessel  and  became  pirates.  In  short, 
such  scenes  were  enacted  as  have  been  lately  beheld  in 
India  and  in  Cuba.  The  severity  of  the  famine  ntay  be 
judged  from  the  fact  that  out  of  five  hundred  persons, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  six  months,  only  sixty  dis- 
eased and  moribund  wretches  survived.  And  this  in 
a  land  which  had  been  described  by  its  discoverers 
as  a  very  Garden  of  Eden,  flowing  with  milk  and 
honey. 

Meanwhile,  great  things  were  preparing  in  England. 
Smith's  warning  that  America  must  be  regarded  and 
treated  as  an  agricultural  and  industrial  community, 
and  not  as  a  treasure-box,  had  borne  fruit ;  and  a  new 
charter  was  applied  for,  which  should  more  adequately 
satisfy  the  true  conditions.  It  was  granted  in  1609; 
Lord  Salisbury  was  at  the  head  of  the  promoters,  and 
with  him  were  associated  many  hundreds  of  the  lords, 
commoners  and  merchants  of  England.  The  land  as- 
..%igned  to  them  was  a  strip  four  hundred  miles  in 
breadth  north  and  south  of  Old  Point  Comfort,  and 

47 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

across  to  the  Pacific,  together  with  all  islands  lying 
Vithin  a  hundred  miles  of  shore.  In  respect  of  admin- 
istrative matters,  the  tendency  of  the  new  charter  was 
toward  a  freer  arrangement;  in  especial,  the  company 
was  to  exercise  the  powers  heretofore  lodged  with  the 
King,  and  the  supreme  council  was  to  be  chosen  by  the 
shareholders.  The  governor  was  the  appointee  of  the 
corporation,  and  his  powers  were  large  and  under  con- 
ditions almost  absolute.  The  liberties  of  the  emigrants 
themselves  were  not  specifically  enlarged,  but  they  were 
at  least  emancipated  from  the  paternal  solicitude  of  the 
stingy  and  self-complacent  pettifogger  who  graced  the 
English  throne. 

Lord  Delaware  was  chosen  Governor;  and  Newport, 
Sir  Thomas  Gates  and  Sir  George  Somers  were  the 
commissioners  who  were  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the 
colony  until  his  arrival.  A  large  number  of  emigrants, 
many  of  whom  contributed  in  money  and  supplies  to 
the  expedition,  were  assembled,  and  the  fleet  numbered 
altogether  nine  vessels.  But  Newport  and  his  fellow 
commissioners  suffered  shipwreck  on  the  Bermudas, 
and  did  not  reach  Jamestown  till  nine  months  later,  in 
May,  1610.  The  calamitous  state  of  things  which  there 
awaited  them  was  an  unwelcome  surprise;  and  the 
despairing  colonists  would  be  contented  with  nothing 
fshort  of  exportation  to  Newfoundland.  But  before 
they  could  gain  the  sea,  Lord  Delaware  with  his  ships 
and  provisions  was  met  coming  into  port ;  and  the  in- 
tending fugitives  turned  back  with  him.  The  hungry 
were  fed,  order  was  retored,  and  industry  was  re- 
established. A  wave  of  religious  feeling  swept  over 
the  little  community;  the  rule  of  Lord  Delaware  was 
mild,  but  just  and  firm;  and  all  would  have  been  well 
had  not  his  health  failed,  and  compelled  him,  in  the 
spring  of  1611,  to  return  to  England.  The  colony  was 
disheartened  anew,  and  the  arrival  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale 
in  Delaware's  place  did  not  at  first  relieve  the  depres- 
sion; his  training  had  been  military,  and  he  adminis- 
tered affairs  by  martial  law.  But  he  believed  in  the 
future  of  the  enterprise,  and  so  impressed  his  views 
upon  the  English  council  that  six  more  ships,  with 

48 


COLUMBUS,    RALEIGH,    AND    SMITH 

three  hundred  emigrants,  were  immediately  sent  to 
their  relief.  Gates,  who  brought  these  recruits  to 
Jamestown,  assumed  the  governorship,  and  a  genuine 
prosperity  began.  Among  the  most  important  of  the 
improvements  introduced  was  an  approximation  to 
the  right  of  private  ownership  in  land,  which  had 
hitherto  been  altogether  denied,  and  which  gave  the 
emigrants  a  personal  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the 
enterprise.  In  1612  a  third  charter  was  granted,  still 
further  increasing  the  privileges  of  the  settlers,  who 
now  found  themselves  possessed  of  almost  the  same 
political  powers  as  they  had  enjoyed  at  home.  It  was 
still  possible,  as  was  thereafter  shown,  for  unjust  and 
selfish  governors  to  inflict  misery  and  discontent  upon 
the  people;  but  it  was  also  possible,  under  the  law,  to 
give  them  substantial  freedom  and  happiness,  and  that 
was  a  new  light  in  political  conceptions. 

More  than  thirty  years  had  now  passed  since  Raleigh 
first  turned  his  mind  to  the  colonizing  of  Virginia.  He 
was  now  approaching  the  scaffold;  but  he  could  feel 
a  lofty  satisfaction  in  the  thought  that  it  was  mainly 
through  him  that  an  opportunity  of  incalculable  mag- 
nitude and  possibilities  had  been  given  for  the  enlarge- 
ment and  felicity  of  his  race.  He  had  sowed  the  seed 
of  England  beyond  the  seas,  and  the  quality  of  the  fruit 
it  should  bear  was  already  becoming  apparent  to  his 
eyes,  soon  to  close  forever  upon  earthly  things.  The 
spirit  of  America  was  his  spirit.  He  was  for  freedom, 
enlightenment,  and  enterprise;  and  whenever  a  son  of 
America  has  fulfilled  our  best  ideal  of  what  an  Ameri- 
can should  be  we  find  in  him  some  of  the  traits  and 
qualities  which  molded  the  deeds  and  colored  the 
thoughts  of  this  mighty  Englishman. 

Nor  can  we  find  a  better  example  of  the  restless, 
practical,  resourceful  side  of  the  American  character 
than  is  offered  in  Captain  John  Smith;  even  in  his 
boastfulness  we  must  claim  kinship  with  him.  His 
sterling  manhood,  his  indomitable  energy,  his  fertile 
invention,  his  ability  as  a  leader  and  as  a  negotiator, 
all  ally  him  with  the  traditional  Yankee,  who  carries 
on  in  so  matter-of-fact  a  way  the  solution  of  the  prob- 

49 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

lems  of  the  new  democracy.    Both  these  men,  each  in 
his  degree,  were  Americans  before  America. 

And  with  them  we  may  associate  the  name  of  Colum- 
bus ;  to  him  also  we  must  concede  the  spiritual  citizen- 
ship of  our  country;  not  because  of  the  bare  fact  that 
he  was  the  first  to  reach  its  shores,  but  because  he  had 
a  soul  valiant  enough  to  resist  and  defy  the  conserva- 
tism that  will  believe  in  no  new  thing,  and  turns  life 
into  death  lest  life  should  involve  labor  and  self-sacri- 
fice. Columbus,  Smith,  and  Raleigh  stand  at  the  por- 
tals of  our  history,  types  of  the  faith,  success  and  honor 
which  are  our  heritage. 


50 


CHAPTER  II 


TBE  motive  force  which  drove  the  English  Sepa- 
ratists and  Puritans  to  a  voluntary  exile  in  New 
England  in  1620  and  later,  had  its  origin  in  the 
brain  of  the  son  of  a  Saxon  slate  cutter  just  a  century 
before.  Martin  Luther  first  gave  utterance  to  a  mental 
protest  which  had  long  been  on  the  tongue's  tip  of 
many  thoughtful  and  conscientious  persons  in  Europe, 
but  which,  till  then,  no  one  had  found  the  courage,  or 
the  energy,  or  the  conviction,  or  the  clear-headedness 
(as  the  case  might  be)  to  formulate  and  announce. 
Once  having  reached  its  focus,  however,  and  attained 
its  expression,  it  spread  like  a  flame  in  dry  stubble, 
and  produced  results  in  men  and  nations  rarely  prece- 
dented  in  the  history  of  the  world,  whose  vibrations 
have  not  yet  died  away. 

Henry  VIII  of  England  was  born  and  died  a  Catho- 
lic; though  of  religion  of  any  kind  he  never  betrayed 
an  inkling.  His  Act  of  Supremacy,  in  1534,  which  set 
his  will  above  that  of  the  Pope  of  Rome,  had  no  reli- 
gious bearing,  but  merely  indicated  that  he  wanted  to 
divorce  one  woman  in  order  to  marry  another.  Never- 
theless it  made  it  incumbent  upon  the  Pope  to  excom- 
municate him,  and  thus  placed  him,  and  England  as 
represented  by  him,  in  a  quasi-dissenting  attitude 
toward  the  orthodox  faith.  And  coming  as  it  did 
so  soon  after  Luther's  outbreak,  it  may  have  en- 
couraged Englishmen  to  think  on  lines  of  liberal 
belief. 

Passionate  times  followed  in  religious — or  rather  in 
theological — matters,  all  through  Jthe  Sixteenth  Cen- 
tury. The  fulminations  of  Luther  and  the  logic  of 
Calvin  set  England  to  discussing  and  taking  sides ;  and 
when  Edward  VI  came  to  the  throne,  he  was  himself 

51 


a  Protestant,  or  indeed  a  Puritan,  and  the  stimulus  of 
Puritanism  in  others.  But  the  mass  of  the  common 
people  were  still  unmoved,  because  there  was  no  means 
of  getting  at  them,  and  they  had  no  stomach  for  dia- 
lectics, if  there  had  been.  The  new  ideas  would  prob- 
ably have  made  little  headway  had  not  Edward  died 
and  Mary  the  Catholic  come  red-hot  with  zeal  into  his 
place.  She  lost  no  time  in  catching  and  burning  all 
dissenters,  real  or  suspected ;  and  as  many  of  these  were 
honest  persons  who  lived  among  the  people,  and  were 
known  and  approved  by  them,  and  as  they  uniformly 
endured  their  martyrdom  with  admirable  fortitude  and 
good  humor,  falling  asleep  in  the  crackling  flames  like 
babes  at  the  mother's  breast,  Puritanism  received  an 
advertisement  such  as  nothing  since  Christianity  had 
enjoyed  before,  and  which  all  the  unaided  Luthers, 
Melanchthons  and  Calvins  in  the  world  could  not  have 
given  it. 

This  lasted  five  years,  after  which  Mary  went  to  her 
reward,  and  Elizabeth  came  to  her  inheritance.  She 
was  no  more  of  a  religion-monger  than  her  distin- 
guished father  had  been,  but  she  was,  like  him,  jealous 
of  her  authority,  and  a  martinet  for  order  and  obedi- 
ence at  all  costs.  A  certain  intellectual  voluptuousness 
of  nature  and  an  artistic  instinct  inclined  her  to  the 
splendid  forms  and  ceremonies  of  the  Catholic  ritual; 
but  she  was  too  good  a  politician  not  to  understand 
that  a  large  part  of  her  subjects  were  unalterably 
opposed  to  the  papacy.  After  some  consideration, 
therefore,  she  adopted  the  expedient  of  a  compromise, 
the  substance  of  which  was  that  whatever  was  hand- 
some and  attractive  in  Catholicism  was  to  be  retained, 
and  only  those  technical  points  dropped  which  made  the 
'  Pope  the  despot  of  the  Church.  In  ordinary  times  this 
would  have  answered  very  well ;  human  nature  likes  to 
eat  its  cake  and  .have  it  too ;  but  this  time  was  anything 
but  ordinary.  The  reaction  from  old  to  new  ways  of 
thinking,  and  the  unforgotten  persecutions  of  Mary 
had  made  men  very  fond  of  their  opinions,  and  preter- 
naturally  unwilling  to  enter  into  bargains  with  their 
consciences.  At  the  same  time  loyalty  to  the  Crown 

52 


THE    FREIGHT   OF   THE   "MAYFLOWER" 

was  still  a  fetish  in  England,  as  indeed  it  always  has 
been,  except  at  and  about  the  time  when  Oliver  Crom- 
well and  others  cut  off  the  head  of  the  first  Charles. 
Consequently  when  Elizabeth  and  Whitgift,  her  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  set  about  putting  their  house  in 
order  in  earnest,  they  were  met  with  a  mixture  of  hum- 
ble loyalty  and  immovable  resistance  which  would  have 
perplexed  any  potentates  less  single-minded.  But 
Elizabeth  and  Whitgift  were  not  of  the  sort  that  sets 
its  hand  to  the  plow  and  then  turns  back;  they  went 
earnestly  on  with  their  banishments  and  executions, 
paying  particular  attention  to  the  Separatists,  but 
keeping  plenty  in  hand  for  the  Puritans  also.  The 
Separatists,  it  may  be  observed,  were  so  called  because 
their  aim  was  to  dispart  themselves  entirely  from  the 
orthodox  communion ;  the  Puritans  were  willing  to  re- 
main in  the  fold,  but  had  it  in  mind  to  purify  it,  by 
degrees,  from  the  defilement  which  they  held  it  to  have 
contracted.  The  former  would  not  in  the  least  par- 
ticular make  friends  with  the  mammon  of  unrighteous- 
ness, or  condone  the  sins  of  the  Scarlet  Woman,  or  of 
anybody  else;  they  would  not  inhale  foul  air,  with  a 
view  to  sending  it  forth  again  disinfected  by  the  fra- 
grance of  their  own  lungs.  They  took  their  stand  un- 
equivocally upon  the  plain  letter  of  Scripture,  and  did 
away  with  all  that  leaned  toward  conciliating  the 
lighter  sentiments  and  emotions;  they  would  have  no 
genuflections,  no  altars,  no  forms  and  ceremonies,  no 
priestly  vestments,  no  Apostolic  Succession,  no  priests, 
no  confessions,  no  intermediation  of  any  kind  between 
the  individual  and  his  Creator.  The  people  themselves 
should  make  and  unmake  their  own  "ministers,"  and 
in  all  ways  live  as  close  to  the  bone  as  they  could.  The 
Puritans  were  not  opposed  to  any  of  these  beliefs ;  only 
they  were  not  so  set  upon  proclaiming  and  acting  upon 
them  in  season  and  out  of  season ;  they  contended  that 
the  idolatry  of  ritual,  since  it  had  been  several  cen- 
turies growing  up,  should  be  allowed  an  appreciable 
time  to  disappear.  It  will  easily  be  understood  that, 
at  the  bottom  of  these  religious  innovations  and  in- 
flammations, was  a  simple  movement  toward  greater 

53 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

human  freedom  in  all  directions,  including  the  political. 
It  mattered  little  to  the  zealots  on  either  side  whether 
or  not  the  secret  life  of  a  man  was  morally  correct; 
he  must  think  in  a  certain  prescribed  way,  on  pain  of 
being  held  damnable,  and,  if  occasion  served,  of  being 
sent  to  the  other  world  before  he  had  opportunity  to 
further  confirm  his  damnation.  The  dissenters,  when 
they  got  in  motion,  were  just  as  intolerant  and  bigoted 
as  the  conformists;  and  toward  none  was  this  intoler- 
ance more  strongly  manifested  than  toward  such  as 
were  in  the  main,  but  not  altogether,  of  their  way  of 
thinking.  The  Quakers  and  the  Independents  had 
almost  as  hard  an  experience  in  New  England  at  the 
hands  of  the  Puritans  as  the  latter  had  endured  from 
good  Queen  Bess  and  her  henchmen  a  few  years  before. 
But,  really,  religion  in  the  absolute  sense  had  very 
little  to  do  with  these  movements  and  conflicts;  the 
impulse  was  supposed  to  be  religion  because  religion 
dwells  in  the  most  interior  region  of  a  man's  soul. 
But  the  craving  for  freedom  also  proceeds  from  an 
interior  place;  and  so  does  the  lust  for  tyranny.  Pro- 
pinquity was  mistaken  for  identity,  and  anything  which 
was  felt  but  could  not  be  reasoned  about  assumed  a 
religious  aspect  to  the  subject  of  it,  and  all  the  artillery 
of  Heaven  and  Hell,  and  the  vocabulary  thereof,  were 
pressed  into  service  to  champion  it. 

But  New  England  had  to  be  peopled,  and  this  was 
the  way  to  people  it.  The  dissenters  perceived  that, 
though  they  might  think  as  they  pleased  in  England, 
they  could  not  combine  this  privilege  with  keeping  clear 
of  the  fagot  or  the  gibbet;  and  though  martyrdom  is 
honorable,  and  perhaps  gratifying  to  one's  vanity,  it 
can  be  overdone.  They  came  to  the  conclusion,  accord- 
ingly, that  practical  common  sense  demanded  their  ex- 
patriation; and  some  of  them  humbly  petitioned  her 
Majesty  to  be  allowed  to  take  themselves  off.  The 
Queen  did  not  show  herself  wholly  agreeable  to  this 
project;  womanlike,  and  queenlike,  she  wanted  to  con- 
vince them  even  more  than  to  be  rid  of  them;  or  if 
they  must  be  got  rid  of,  she  preferred  to  dispose  of 
them  herself  in  the  manner  prescribed  for  stubborn 

54 


THE    FREIGHT   OF   THE   "MAYFLOWER" 

heretics.  But  the  lady  was  getting  in  years,  and  was 
not  so  ardently  loved  as  she  had  been ;  and  her  activity 
against  the  heretics  could  not  keep  pace  with  her  ani- 
mosity. She  had  succeeded  in  many  things,  and  her 
reign  was  accounted  glorious;  but  she  had  won  no 
glory  by  the  Puritans  and  Separatists,  and  her  cam- 
paign against  them  had  not  succeeded.  They  were 
stronger  than  ever,  and  were  to  grow  stronger  yet.  It 
was  remembered,  too,  by  her  servants  that,  when  she 
was  dead,  some  one  might  ascend  the  throne  who  was 
less  averse  to  nonconformity  than  she  had  been;  and 
then  those  who  had  persecuted  might  suffer  persecution 
in  their  turn.  So  although  the  prayer  of  the  would-be 
colonists  was  not  granted,  the  severity  against  them 
was  relaxed;  and  as  Elizabeth's  last  breath  rattled  in 
her  throat,  the  mourners  had  one  ear  cocked  toward 
the  window,  to  hear  in  what  sort  of  a  voice  James  was 
speaking. 

Their  fears  had  been  groundless.  The  new  King 
spoke  Latin,  and  "peppered  the  Puritans  soundly." 
The  walls  of  Hampton  Court  resounded  with  his  shrill 
determination  to  tolerate  none  of  their  nonsense;  and 
he  declared  to  the  assembled  prelates,  who  were  dis- 
solving in  tears  of  joy,  that  bishops  were  the  most 
trustworthy  legs  a  monarch  could  walk  on.  The  dis- 
senters, who  had  hoped  much,  were  disappointed  in 
proportion ;  but  they  were  hardened  into  an  opposition 
sterner  than  they  had  ever  felt  before.  They  must  help 
themselves,  since  no  man  would  help  them;  and  why 
not — since  they  had  God  on  their  side?  They  con- 
trolled the  House  of  Commons,  and  made  themselves 
felt  there,  till  James  declared  that  he  preferred  a  her- 
mitage to  ruling  such  a  pack  of  malcontents.  The 
clergy  renewed  their  persecutions;  the  Government  of 
England  was  a  despotism  of  the  strictest  kind;  and 
the  tire  which  had  been  repressed  in  Puritan  bosoms 
began  to  emit  sullen  sparks  through  their  eyes  and  lips. 

A  group  of  them  in  the  north  of  England  established 
a  church,  and  called  upon  all  whom  it  might  concern 
to  shake  off  anti-Christian  bondage.  John  Robinson 
and  William  Brewster  gave  it  their  support,  and  their 

55 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

meetings  were  made  interesting  by  the  spies  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. Finally  they  were  driven  to  attempt  an 
escape  to  Holland;  and,  after  one  miscarriage,  they 
succeeded  in  getting  off  from  the  coast  of  Lincolnshire 
in  the  spring  of  1608,  and  were  transported  to  Amster- 
dam. They  could  but  tarry  there;  their  only  country 
now  was  Heaven ;  meanwhile  they  were  wandering  Pil- 
grims on  the  face  of  the  earth,  as  their  Lord  had  been 
before  them.  From  Amsterdam  they  presently  removed 
to  Leyden,  where  they  conducted  themselves  with  such 
propriety  as  to  win  the  encomiums  of  the  natives.  But 
their  holy  prosperity  did  not  make  them  happy,  or  en- 
able them  to  be  on  comfortable  terms  with  the  Dutch 
language;  they  could  not  get  elbowroorn,  or  feel  that 
they  were  doing  themselves  justice;  and  as  the  rumors 
of  a  fertile  wilderness  overseas  came  to  their  ears,  they 
began  to  contemplate  the  expediency  of  betaking  them- 
selves thither.  It  was  now  the  year  1617 ;  and  negotia- 
tions were  entered  into  with  the  London  Company  to 
proceed  under  their  charter. 

The  London  Company  were  disposed  to  consider  the 
proposition  favorably,  but  the  affair  dragged,  and  when 
it  was  brought  before  the  Government  it  was  quashed 
by  Bacon,  who  opined  that  the  coat  of  Christ  must  be 
seamless,  and  that  even  in  a  remote  wilderness  heretics 
must  not  be  permitted  to  rend  it.  The  Pilgrims  might 
have  replied  that  if  a  coat  is  already  torn,  it  profits 
not  to  declare  it  whole;  but  they  were  not  students  of 
repartee,  and  merely  relinquished  efforts  to  secure 
support  in  that  direction.  They  must  go  into  exile 
without  official  sanction,  that  was  all.  The  King's  law 
enjoined,  to  be  sure,  that  if  any  dissenters  were  dis- 
covered abroad  they  were  straightway  to  be  sent  to 
England  for  discipline;  but  inasmuch  as  the  threat  of 
exile  was,  at  the  same  time,  held  over  the  same  dis- 
.senters  at  home,  it  would  seem  a  saving  of  trouble  all 
round  to  go  abroad  and  trust  to  God.  "If  they  mean 
to  wrong  us,"  they  aptly  remarked,  "a  royal  seal, 
though  it  were  as  broad  as  the  house  floor,  would  not 
protect  us."  A  suggestion  that  the  Dutchmen  fit  them 
out  for  their  voyage,  and  share  their  profits,  fell 

56 


THE    FREIGHT    OF    THE    "MAYFLOWER" 

through  on  the  question  of  protection  against  other 
nations;  and  when  they  had  prepared  their  minds  to 
make  the  venture  without  any  protection  at  all,  it 
turned  out  that  there  was  not  capital  enough  in  the 
community  to  pay  for  transport.  Within  three  years, 
however,  this  difficulty  was  overcome,  and  in  July  of 
1620  two  ships  were  hired — the  Speedwell  and  the 
Mayfloicer — and  the  progenitors  of  religious  and  civil 
liberty  in  America  were  ready  to  set  forth. 

There  was  not  accommodation  for  them  all  on  the 
two  vessels,  the  one  of  sixty  tons,  the  other  of  thrice 
as  many;  so  a  division  was  made,  Robinson  remaining 
in  Leyden  with  one  party,  until  means  could  be  had  to 
bring  tnem  over;  and  Brewster  accompanying  the  emi- 
grants, supported  by  John  Carver  and  Miles  Standish. 
Robinson,  one  of  the  finest  and  purest  spirits  of  the 
time,  died  while  waiting  to  join  his  friends;  but  most 
of  the  others  were  brought  over  in  due  season. 

The  hymns  of  praise  and  hope  which  were  uplifted 
on  the  shores  of  Delft  Haven,  in  the  hour  of  farewell 
between  those  who  went  and  those  who  stayed,  though 
the  faith  which  inspired  them  was  stanch,  and  the 
voices  which  chanted  them  musical  and  sweet,  could 
not  restrain  the  tears  that  flowed  at  the  severing  of 
ties  which  had  been  welded  by  exile,  hardship,  and 
persecution  for  conscience'  sake;  nor  were  the  two 
"feasts"  which  comforted  the  bellies  of  the  departing 
ones  able  to  console  their  hearts.  It  is  different  with 
trips  across  the  Atlantic  nowadays :  and  different,  like- 
wise, are  the  motives  which  prompt  them. 

The  Speedwell  turned  back  at  Plymouth,  England, 
and  the  Mayflower  went  on  alone,  with  her  company 
of  one  hundred  and  two,  including  women,  some  of 
whom  were  soon  to  be  mothers.  The  Atlantic,  though 
a  good  friend  of  theirs,  was  rough  and  boisterous  in  its 
manners,  and  tossed  them  on  their  way  rudely ;  in  that 
little  cabin  harrowing  discomfort  must  have  been  un- 
dergone, and  Christian  forbearance  sorely  tried.  The 
pitching  and  tossing  lasted  more  than  three  months,  from 
the  Gth  of  September  till  the  7th  of  December,  when 
they  sighted — not  the  Bay  of  New  York,  as  they  had 

*57 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

intended,  but  the  snow-covered  sand  mounds  of  Cape 
Cod.  It  was  at  best  an  inhospitable  coast,  and  the 
time  of  their  visit  could  not  have  been  worse  chosen. 

But  indeed  they  were  to  be  tested  to  the  utmost; 
their  experiences  during  that  winter  would  have  dis- 
couraged oak  and  iron ;  but  it  had  no  such  effect  upon 
these  English  men  and  women  of  flesh  and  blood.  The 
New  England  winter  climate  has  its  reputation  still; 
but  these  people  were  not  fit  for  the  encounter.  They 
had  been  living  in  the  moist  mildness  of  Holland  for 
thirteen  years,  and  for  more  than  ninety  days  had  been 
penned  in  that  stifling  Mayflower  cabin,  seasick, 
bruised,  and  sleepless.  It  sleeted,  snowed,  rained  and 
froze,  and  they  could  find  no  place  to  get  ashore  on; 
their  pinnace  got  stove,  and  the  icy  waves  wet  them  to 
the  marrow.  Standish  and  some  others  made  explora- 
tions on  land;  but  found  nothing  better  than  some 
baskets  of  maize  and  a  number  of  Indian  graves  buried 
in  the  snowdrifts.  At  last  they  stumbled  upon  a  little 
harbor,  upon  which  abutted  a  hollow  between  low  hills, 
with  an  icebound  stream  descending  through  it  to  the 
sea.  They  must  make  shift  with  that  or  perish.  It  was 
the  21st  of  December. 

That  date  is  inscribed  on  the  front  page  of  our  his- 
tory, and  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  and  their  wives  and 
daughters  are  celebrated  persons,  though  they  were 
only  a  lot  of  English  farmers  in  exile  for  heresy.  But 
'  no  dreams  of  renown  visited  them  then ;  they  bad  noth- 
ing to  uphold  them  but  their  amazing  faith.  What  that 
faith  must  have  been  their  conduct  demonstrates;  but 
it  is  difficult  to  comprehend  such  a  spirit ;  we  remember 
all  the  persecutions,  all  the  energy  of  new  convictions, 
and  still  it  seems  miraculous.  Liberty  to  think  as  they 
pleased,  and  to  act  upon  their  belief :  that  was  all  they 
had  to  fight  with.  It  seems  very  thin  armor,  an  ineffec- 
tive sword :  but  what  a  victory  they  won ! 

Before  they  disembarked,  a  meeting  was  held  in  the 
cabin  for  the  transaction  of  certain  business.  Since 
then,  whenever  a  handful  of  Yankees  have  been  gath- 
ered together,  it  has  been  their  instinct  to  organize  and 
pass  resolutions.  It  is  the  instinct  of  order  and  self- 

58 


THE    FREIGHT   OF    THE    "MAYFLOWER" 

government,  the  putting  of  each  man  in  his  proper 
place,  and  assigning  to  him  his  function.  This  meeting 
of  the  Pilgrims  was  the  prototype,  and  the  resolutions 
they  passed  constitute  the  model  upon  which  our  com- 
monwealth is  based.  They  promised  one  another,  in  the 
presence  of  God,  equal  laws  and  fidelity  to  the  general 
good :  the  principles  of  a  free  democracy. 

They  disembarked  on  the  '  flat  bowlder  known  as 
Plymouth  Rock  and  set  to  work  to  make  their  home. 
With  the  snow  under  their  feet,  the  dark,  naked  woods 
hemming  them  in,  and  concealing  they  knew  not  what 
savage  perils;  with  the  bitter  waves  flinging  frozen 
spray  along  the  shore,  and  immitigable  clouds  lowering 
above  them — memory  may  have  drawn  a  picture  of  the 
quiet  English  vales  in  which  they  were  born,  or  of  the 
hazy  Dutch  levels,  with  the  windmills  swinging  their 
arms  slumberously  above  the  still  canals,  and  the  clean 
streets  and  gabled  facades  of  the  prosperous  Holland 
town  which  had  sheltered  and  befriended  them.  They 
thought  of  faces  they  loved  and  would  see  no  more, 
and  of  the  secure  and  tranquil  lives  they  might  have 
led,  but  for  that  tooth  of  conscience  at  their  hearts, 
which  would  give  them  peace  only  at  the  cost  of  almost 
all  that  humanity  holds  dear.  Did  any  of  them  wish 
they  had  not  come?  Did  any  doubt  in  his  or  her  heart 
whether  a  cold  abstraction  was  worth  adopting  in  lieu 
of  the  great,  warm,  kindly  world?  Verily,  not  one! 

They  got  to  work  at  their  home  making  without  de-  ' 
lay;  but  all  were  ill,  and  many  were  dying.  That  win- 
ter they  put  up  with  much  labor  a  few  log  huts;  but 
their  chief  industry  was  the  digging  of  clams  and  of 
graves.  Half  of  their  number  was  buried  before  the 
summer,  and  there  was  not  food  enough  for  the  rest 
to  eat.  John  Carver,  who  had  been  elected  Governor 
at  landing,  died  in  April,  having  already  lost  his  son. 
But  those  who  did  survive  their  first  year  lived  long; 
it  is  wonder  that  they  ever  died  at  all  who  could  sur- 
vive such  an  experience. 

Spring  came,  and  with  it  a  visitor.  It  was  in  March 
— not  a  salubrious  month  in  New  England ;  but  the  trees 
were  beginning  to  put  out  brown  buds  with  green  or 

59 


HISTORY   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES 

red  tips,  and  grass  and  shrubs  were  sprouting  in  shel- 
tered places,  though  snow  still  lay  in  spots  where  sun- 
shine could  not  fall.  The  trailing  arbutus  could  be 
found  here  and  there,  with  a  perfume  that  all  the 
cruelty  of  winter  seemed  to  have  made  only  more  sweet. 
Birds  were  singing,  too,  and  the  settlers  had  listened 
to  them  with  joy;  they  had  gone  near  to  forget  that 
God  had  made  birds.  On  some  days,  from  the  south, 
came  the  breathing  of  soft,  fragrant  airs;  and  there 
were  breadths  of  blue  in  the  sky  that  looked  as  if  so 
fresh  and  tender  a  hue  must  have  been  just  created. 

The  men,  in  thick  jerkins,  heavy  boots,  and  sugar-loaf 
hats,  were  busy  about  the  clearing;  some,  like  Miles 
Standish,  wore  a  steel  plate  over  their  breasts,  and  kept 
their  matchlocks  within  reach;  for  though  a  pestilence 
had  exterminated  the  local  Indians  before  they  came, 
and,  with  the  exception  of  one  momentary  skirmish,  in 
which  no  harm  was  done,  nothing  had  been  seen  or 
heard  of  the  red  men — still  it  was  known  that  Indians 
existed,  and  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  they  would 
be  hostile.  Meanwhile  the  women,  in  homespun  frocks 
and  jackets,  with  kerchiefs  round  their  shoulders,  and 
faces  in  which  some  trace  of  the  English  ruddiness  had 
begun  to  return,  sat  spinning  in  the  doorways  of  the 
huts,  keeping  an  eye  on  the  kettles  of  Indian  meal.  The 
morning  sunlight  fell  upon  a  scene  which,  for  the  first 
time,  seemed  homelike :  not  like  the  lost  homes  in  Eng- 
land, but  a  place  people  could  live  human  lives  in,  and 
grow  fond  of.  The  hope  of  spring  was  with  them. 

All  at  once,  down  the  forest  glade,  treading  noise- 
lessly on  moccasined  feet,  came  a  tall,  wild,  unfamiliar 
figure,  with  feathers  in  his  black  hair,  and  black  eyes 
gleaming  above  his  high  cheek  bones.  An  Indian,  at 
last!  He  had  come  so  silently  that  he  had  emerged 
from  the  shadow  of  the  forest  and  was  almost  amid 
them  before  he  was  seen.  Some  of  the  settlers,  per- 
haps, felt  a  momentary  tightening  round  the  heart ;  for 
though  we  are  always  in  the  hollow  of  God's  hand, 
there  are  times  when  we  are  surprised  into  forgetful- 
ness  of  that  security,  and  are  concerned  about  carnal 
perils.  Captain  Standish,  who  had  taken  a  flying  shot 

60 


THE    FREIGHT   OF    THE    "MAYFLOWER" 

at  some  of  these  heathen  four  or  five  months  ago,  caught 
up  a  loaded  musket  leaning  against  the  corner  of  a  hut, 
and  stood  on  his  guard,  doubting  that  more  of  the  sav- 
ages were  lurking  behind  the  trees.  He  had  even  thus 
early  in  American  history  come  to  the  view  long  after- 
ward formulated  in  the  epigram  that  the  only  good 
Indians  are  the  dead  ones. 

But  the  keen,  spare  savage  made  no  hostile  demon- 
stration; he  paused  before  the  captain,  with  the  dig- 
nity of  his  race,  and  held  out  his  empty  hands.  And 
then,  to  the  vast  astonishment  of  Standish  and  of  the 
others  who  had  gathered  to  his  support,  he  opened  his 
mouth  and  spoke  English:  "Welcome,  Englishmen!" 
said  he.  They  must  have  fancied,  for  an  instant,  that 
the  Lord  had  wrought  a  special  miracle  for  them,  in 
bestowing  upon  this  native  of  the  primeval  forest  the 
gift  of  tongues. 

There  was,  however,  nothing  miraculous  about  Samo- 
set,  who  had  picked  up  his  linguistic  accomplishment, 
such  as  it  was,  from  a  fellow  savage  who  had  been 
kidnaped  and  taken  to  England,  whom  he  afterward 
introduced  to  the  colony,  where  he  made  himself  use- 
ful. Samoset's  present  business  was  as  ambassador 
from  the  great  chief  and  sachem,  Massasoit,  lord  of 
everything  thereabout,  who  sent  friendly  greetings,  and 
would  be  pleased  to  confer  with  the  newcomers,  at  their 
convenience,  and  arrange  an  alliance. 

These  were  good  words,  and  they  must  have  taken 
a  weight  from  every  heart  there;  not  only  the  dread 
of  immediate  attack,  but  the  omnipresent  and  abiding 
anxiety  that  the  time  would  come  when  they  would 
have  to  fight  for  their  lives,  and  defend  the  persecuted 
church  of  the  Lord  against  foes  who  knew  nothing  of 
conformist  or  nonconformist,  but  who  were  as  pro- 
ficient as  Queen  Mary  herself  in  the  use  of  fire  and 
torture.  These  misgivings  might  now  be  dismissed; 
if  the  ruler  of  so  many  tribes  was  willing  to  stand 
their  friend,  who  should  harm  them  ?  So  they  all  gath- 
ered round  Samoset  on  that  sunny  spring  morning ;  the 
women  observing  curiously  and  in  silence  his  strange 
aspect  and  gestures,  and  occasionally  exchanging 

61 


HISTORY   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES 

glances  with  one  another  at  some  turn  of'  the  talk; 
while  the  sturdy  Miles,  and  Governor  Carver,  pale 
with  illness  which  within  a  month  reunited  him  with 
the  son  he  had  loved,  and  Elder  Brewster,  with  his 
serious  mien,  and  Bradford,  who  was  to  succeed  Carver, 
with  his  strong,  authoritative  features  and  thoughtful 
forehead — these  and  more  than  a  score  more  of  the 
brethren  stood  eying  their  visitor,  questioning  him  ear- 
nestly and  trying  to  make  out  his  meaning  from  his 
imperfect  English  gruntings.  And  they  spoke  one  to 
another  of  the  action  that  should  be  taken  on  his  mes- 
sage, or  commented  with  pious  exclamations  on  the 
mercy  of  the  Lord  in  thus  raising  up  for  them  pro- 
tectors even  in  the  wilderness.  Meanwhile  a  chipmunk 
flitted  along  the  bole  of  a  fallen  tree,  a  thrush  chirped 
in  the  brake,  a  deer,  passing  airy-footed  across  an  open- 
ing in  the  forest,  looked  an  instant  and  then  turned 
and  plunged  fleetly  away  amid  the  boughs,  and  a  lean- 
bellied  wolf,  prospecting  for  himself  and  his  friends, 
stuck  his  sinister  snout  through  a  clump  of  under- 
brush, and  curled  his  lips  above  the  long  row  of  his 
white  teeth  in  an  ugly  grin.  This  friendship  boded  no 
good  to  him. 

The  coming  of  Samoset  was  followed  after  a  while 
by  the  introduction  of  Squanto,  the  worthy  savage  who 
had  enjoyed  the  refining  influences  of  distant  England, 
whose  services  as  interpreter  were  of  much  value  in 
that  juncture;  and  after  a  short  time  Massasoit  him- 
self accepted  the  settlers'  invitation  to  become  their 
guest  during  the  making  of  the  treaty.  He  was  re- 
ceived with  becoming  honor ;  the  diplomatists  proceeded 
at  once  to  business,  and  before  twilight  the  state  paper 
had  been  drawn  up,  signed  and  sealed.  Its  provisions 
ran  that  both  parties  were  to  abstain  from  harming 
each  other,  were  to  observe  an  offensive  and  defensive 
alliance,  and  io  deliver  up  offenders.  These  terms  were 
religiously  kept  for  half  a  century ;  by  which  time  the 
colonists  were  able  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Its  good 
effects  were  illustrated  in  the  case  of  the  chief  Canoni- 
cus,  who  was  disposed  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  the  Eng- 
lishmen, and  sent  them,  as  a  symbol  of  his  attitude, 

62 


a  rattlesnake's  skin  wrapped  round  a  sheaf  of  arrows. 
Bradford,  to  indicate  that  he  also  understood  the  lan- 
guage of  emblems,  sent  the  skin  back  stuffed  with  pow- 
der and  bullets.  Canouicus  seems  to  have  fancied  that 
these  substances  were  capable  of  destroying  him  spon- 
taneously, and  returned  them  with  pacific  assurances. 
Such  weapons,  combined  with  the  alliance,  were  too 
much  for  him.  Canonicus  was  chief  of  the  Narragau- 
setts ;  Massasoit  of  the  Wampanoags.  In  1076  the  sou 
of  Massasoit,  for  some  fancied  slight,  made  war  upon 
the  settlers,  and  the  Narragansetts  helped  him ;  in  this 
war,  known  as  King  Philip's,  the  settlers  suffered 
severely,  though  they  were  victorious.  But  had  it  come 
during  the  early  years  of  their  sojourn,  not  one  of  them 
would  have  survived,  and  New  England  might  never 
have  become  what  she  is  now. 

Meantime  the  Pilgrims,  pilgrims  no  longer,  settled 
down  to  make  the  wilderness  blossom  as  the  rose.  At 
their  first  landing  they  had  agreed,  like  the  colonists  of 
Virginia,  to  own  their  land  and  work  it  in  common ;  but 
they  were  much  quicker  than  the  Jamestown  folk  to 
perceive  the  inexpediency  of  this  plan,  and  reformed 
it  by  giving  each  man  or  family  a  private  plot  of 
ground.  Agriculture  then  developed  so  rapidly  that 
corn  enough  was  raised  to  supply  the  Indians  as  well 
as  the  English ;  and  the  importation  of  neat  cattle  in- 
creased the  home  look  as  well  as  tile  prosperity  of  the 
farms.  There  was  also  a  valuable  trade  in  furs,  which  j 
stimulated  an  abortive  attempt  at  rivalry.  None  could 
compete  with  the  Pilgrims  on  their  own  ground;  for 
were  they  not  growing  up  with  the  country,  and  the 
Lord — was  He  not  with  them  ?  More  troublesome  than 
this  effort  of  Weston  was  the  obstruction  of  the  com- 
pany in  England,  and  its  usurious  pvactices;  the 
colonists  finally  bought  them  out,  and  relied  hence- 
forth wholly  on  themselves,  with  the  best  results.  As 
years  went  by  their  numbers  increased,  though  but 
slowly.  They  did  not  invite  the  cooperation  of  persons 
not  of  their  way  of  thinking,  and  the  world  was  never 
oversupplied  with  Separatists.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
were  active  and  full  of  enterprise,  and  sent  out 

63 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

branches  in  all  directions,  which  shared  the  vitality  of 
the  parent  stock.  Every  man  of  them  was  trained  to 
self-government,  and  where  he  went  order  and  equity 
accompanied  him.  A  pure  democracy  could  not  be 
framed;  for  years  the  elections  were  made  by  the  en- 
tire body  of  the  assembled  citizens ;  his  dread  Majesty, 
King  James,  never  sent  them  his  royal  Charter,  but 
the  charter  provided  by  their  own  love  of  justice  and 
solid  good  sense  served  them  far  better.  Their  gov- 
ernors were  responsible  directly  to  the  people,  and 
were  further  restrained  by  a  council  of  seven  members. 
This  political  basis  is  that  upon  which  our  present 
form  of  government  rests ;  but  it  is  strange  to  see  what 
Daedalian  complications,  and  wheels  within  wheels,  we 
have  contrived  to  work  into  the  superstructure.  A 
modern  ward  heeler  in  New  York  could  have  taken  up 
the  whole  frame  of  government  in  Seventeenth  Century 
New  England  by  the  butt  end,  and  cracked  it  like  a 
whip — provided  of  course  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  had  al- 
lowed him  to  attend  the  primaries. 

But  it  is  more  probable  that  the  ward  heeler  would 
have  found  himself  promptly  in  the  presence  of  one 
of  those  terrific  magistrates  whose  grim  decrees  gave 
New  England  naughty  children  the  nightmare  a  cen- 
tury after  the  stern-browed  promulgators  of  them  were 
dust.  The  early  laws  against  crime  in  New  England 
were  severe,  though  death  was  seldom  or  never  inflicted 
save  for  murder.  But  more  irksome  to  one  used  to  the 
lax  habits  of  to-day  would  have  been  the  punctilious 
rigidity  with  which  they  guarded  the  personal  bear- 
ing, speech,  and  dress  of  the  members  of  their  com- 
munity. Yet  we  may  thank  them  for  having  done  so ;  it 
was  a  wise  precaution;  they  knew  the  frailties  of  the 
flesh,  and  how  easily  license  takes  an  ell  if  an  inch  be 
given  it.  Nothing  less  iron  than  was  their  self-restraint 
could  have  provided  material  stanch  enough  to  build 
up  the  framework  of  our  nation.  One  might  not  have 
enjoyed  living  with  them;  but  we  may  be  heartily 
glad  that  they  lived;  and  we  should  be  the  better  off 
if  more  of  their  stamp  were  alive  still. 

But  these  iron  people  had  their  tender  and  senti- 

64 


THE    FREIGHT   OF   THE   "MAYFLOWER" 

mental  side  as  well,  and  the  self-command  which  they 
habitually  exercised  made  the  softening,  when  it  came, 
the  more  beautiful.  One  of  the  love  romances  of  this 
little  colony  has  come  down  to  us,  and  may  be  taken 
as  the  substantial  truth ;  it  has  entered  into  our  litera- 
ture and  poetry,  and  touches  us  more  nearly  even 
than  the  tale  of  Pocahontas.  Its  telling  by  our  most 
popular  poet  has  brought  it  to  the  knowledge  of  a 
greater  circle  of  readers  than  it  could  otherwise  have 
reached ;  but  the  elaboration  of  his  treatment  could  add 
nothing  to  the  human  charm  of  it,  or  sharpen  our  con- 
ception of  the  leading  characters  in  the  drama.  Miles 
Standish  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  Netherlands  before 
joining  the  Pilgrims,  and  to  him  they  gave  the  mili- 
tary guardianship  of  the  colony,  with  the  title  of  cap- 
tain. He  was  then  about  thirty-six  years  of  age,  a 
bluff,  straightforward  soldier,  whom  a  life  of  hardship 
had  made  older  than  his  years.  He  had  known  little 
of  women's  society,  but  during  the  long  voyage  he 
came  to  love  Priscilla  Mullens,  and  when  the  spring 
came  to  the  survivors  at  Plymouth,  he  wished  to  marry 
her.  But  he  would  not  trust,  as  Othello  did,  to  the 
simple  art  of  a  soldier  to  woo  her;  and  Priscilla  was 
probably  no  Desdemona.  But  there  was  a  youth  among 
the  colonists,  just  come  of  age,  whom  Standish  had 
liked  and  befriended,  and  who,  though  a  cooper  and 
ship  carpenter  by  trade,  was  gifted  with  what  seemed 
to  Standish  especial  graces  of  person  and  speech. 
Alden  had  not  been  one  of  the  original  Pilgrims;  he 
had  beeri  hired  to  repair  the  Mayflower  while  she 
lay  at  Southampton,  and  decided  to  sail  on  her  when 
she  sailed;  perhaps  with  the  hope  of  making  his  for- 
tune in  the  new  world,  perhaps  because  he  wished  to 
go  where  Priscilla  went.  She  was  a  girl  whom  any 
man  might  rejoice  to  make  his  wife;  vigorous  and 
wholesome  as  well  as  comely,  and  endowed  with  a 
strong  character,  sweetened  by  a  touch  of  humor.  John 
had  never  spoken  to  her  of  his  love,  any  more  than 
Miles  had;  whether  Priscilla's  clear  eyes  had  divined 
it,  we  know  not;  but  it  is  likely  that  she  saw  through 
the  cooper  and  the  soldier  both. 
U.S.— 3  VOL.  I  65 


The  honest  soldier  was  a  fool,  and  saw  nothing  but 
Priscilla,  and  felt  nothing  but  his  love  for  her.  He 
took  John  Alden  by  the  arm,  and,  leading  him  apart 
into  the  forest,  proposed  to  him  to  go  to  young  Mistress 
Mullens  and  ask  her  if  she  would  become  the  wife  of 
Captain  Standish.  Alden  was  honest,  too;  but  he  was 
dominated  by  his  older  friend,  and  lacked  the  courage 
to  tell  him  that  he  had  hoped  for  Priscilla  for  himself ; 
he  let  the  critical  moment  for  this  explanation  pass, 
and  then  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  accept  the 
captain's  commission.  We  can  imagine  how  this  situ- 
ation would  be  handled  by  the  analytic  novelists  of  our 
day;  how  they  would  spread  Alden's  heart  and  con- 
science out  on  paper,  and  dry  them,  and  pick  them  to 
pieces.  The  young  fellow  certainly  had  a  hard  thing 
to  do;  he  must  tread  down  his  own  passion,  and  win 
the  girl  for  his  rival  into  the  bargain.  To  her  he  went, 
and  spoke.  But  the  only  way  he  could  spur  himself  to 
eloquence  was  to  imagine  that  he  was  Standish,  and 
then  woo  her  as  he  would  have  done  had  Standish 
been  he. 

Maidens  of  rounded  nature,  like  Priscilla,  pay  less 
attention  to  what  a  man  says  than  to  the  tones  of  his 
voice,  the  look  in  his  eyes,  and  his  unconscious  move- 
ments. As  Alden  warmed  to  his  work,  she  glanced  at 
Mm  occasionally,  and  not  only  wished  that  Heaven 
had  made  her  such  a  man,  but  decided  that  it  had.  So, 
when  the  youth  had  finished  off  an  ardent  peroration, 
in  which  the  captain  was  made  to  appear  in  a  guise 
of  heroic  gallantry  that  did  not  suit  him  in  the  least, 
but  which  was  the  best  John  could  do  for  him:  there 
was  a  pause,  while  the  vicarious  wooer  wiped  his  brow, 
and  felt  very  miserable,  remembering  that  if  she 
yielded,  it  would  be  to  Miles  and  not  to  him.  She 
divined  what  was  in  his  mind,  and  sent  him  to  Heaven 
with  one  of  the  womanliest  and  loveliest  things  that 
ever  woman  said  to  man:  "Why  don't  you  speak  for 
yourself,  John?"  she  asked,  gazing  straight  at  him, 
with  a  quiver  of  her  lips  that  was  half  humor  and  half 
the  promise  of  tears. 

John  still  had  before  him  -a  bad  quarter  of  an  hour 

66 


THE    FREIGHT   OF   THE    "MAYFLOWER" 

with  the  captain;  it  was  as  hard  to  make  him  under- 
stand that  he  had  not  played  the  traitor  to  him  as  it 
had  been  to  persuade  Priscilla  to  do  what  she  had  not 
done;  but  the  affair  ended  without  a  tragedy,  which 
would  have  spoiled  it.  Captain  Standisb,  when  Pris- 
cilla married,  went  to  live  in  Duxbury ;  and  a  year  or 
two  later  worked  off  his  spleen  by  slaying  the  Indian 
rascals  who  were  plotting  to  murder  the  Weston  set- 
tlers at  Weymouth.  He  and  his  men  did  not  wait  for 
the  savages  to  strike  the  first  blow;  they  made  no  pre- 
tense of  exhausting  all  the  resources  of  diplomacy  be- 
fore proceeding  to  extremities.  They  walked  up  to  the 
enemy,  suddenly  seized  them  by  the  throat,  and  drove 
the  knives  which  the  Indians  themselves  wore  through 
their  false  hearts.  There  was  no  more  trouble  from 
Indians  in  that  region  for  a  long  time;  and  Captain 
Standish's  feelings  were  greatly  relieved.  As  for  John 
and  Priscilla,  they  lived  long  and  prospered,  John  at- 
taining the  age  of  eighty-seven,  which  indicates  domes- 
tic felicity.  They  had  issue,  and  their  descendants  live 
among  us  to  this  day  in  comfort  and  honor. 

King  James,  like  other  spiteful  and  weak  men,  had 
a  long  memory,  and  amid  the  many  things  that  engaged 
his  attention  he  did  not  forget  the  colonists  of  Plym- 
outh, who  had  exiled  themselves  without  a  charter 
from  him.  In  the  same  year  which  witnessed  their  dis- 
embarkation at  Plymouth  Rock,  he  incorporated  a  com- 
pany consisting  of  friends  of  his  own,  and  gave  them 
a  tract  of  country  between  the  fortieth  and  the  forty- 
eighth  parallels  of  north  latitude,  which  of  course  in- 
cluded the  Plymouth  colony.  In  addition  to  all  other 
possible  rights  and  privileges,  it  had  the  monopoly  of 
the  fisheries  of  the  coast,  and  it  was  from  this  that 
revenue  was  most  certainly  expected,  since  it  was  pro- 
posed to  lay  a  tax  on  all  tonnage  engaged  in  it.  All 
the  new  company  had  to  do  was  to  grant  charters  to 
all  who  might  apply,  and  reap  the  profits.  But  the 
scheme  was  fated  to  miscarry,  because  the  pretense  of 
colonization  behind  it  was  impotent,  and  the  true  ob- 
ject in  view  was  the  old  one  of  getting  everything  that 
could  be  secured  out  of  the  country,  and  putting  noth- 

67 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

ing  into  it.  The  fisheries  monopoly  was  powerfully  op- 
posed in  Parliament  and  finally  defeated;  small  spo- 
radic settlements,  with  no  sound  principle  or  purpose 
within  them,  appeared  and  disappeared  along  the  coast 
from  Massachusetts  to  the  northern  borders  of  Maine. 
One  grant  conflicted  with  another,  titles  were  in  dis- 
pute, and  lawsuits  were  rife.  The  King  sanctioned 
whatever  injustice  or  restriction  his  company  proposed, 
but  his  decrees,  many  of  them  illegal,  were  ineffective, 
and  produced  only  confusion.  Agriculture  was  hardly 
attempted  in  any  of  the  little  settlements  authorized 
by  the  company,  and  the  only  trade  pursued  was  in 
furs  and  fishes.  The  rights  of  the  Indians  were  wholly 
disregarded,  and  the  domain  of  the  French  at  the 
north  was  infringed  upon.  All  this  while  the  Pilgrims 
continued  their  industries  and  maintained  their  democ- 
racy, undisturbed  by  the  feeble  machinations  of  the 
King;  and  in  1625  the  death  of  the  latter  temporarily 
cleared  the  air.  Charles  affixed  his  seal  to  the  famous 
Massachusetts  Charter  four  years  later;  and  though 
Gorges  and  some  others  continued  to  harass  New  Eng- 
land for  some  time  longer,  the  plan  of  colonizing  by 
fisheries  was  hopelessly  discredited,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  civil  and  religious  liberties  among  the  serious 
colonists  was  assured. 

The  experiments  thus  far  made  in  dealing  with  the 
new  country  had  had  a  significant  result.  The  Plym- 
outh colony,  going  out  with  neither  charter  nor 
patronage,  and  with  the  purpose  not  of  finding  gold  or 
making  fortunes,  but  of  establishing  a  home  wherein 
to  dwell  in  perpetuity — which  was  handicapped  by  the 
abject  poverty  of  its  members,  and  by  the  severities  of 
a  climate  till  then  unknown — this  enterprise  was  found 
to  hold  the  elements  of  success  from  the  start,  and  it 
steadily  increased  in  power  and  influence.  It  suffered 
from  time  to  time  from  the  tyranny  of  royal  governors 
and  the  ignorance  or  malice  of  absentee  statesman- 
ship; but  nothing  could  extinguish  or  corrupt  it;  on 
the  contrary,  it  went  "slowly  broadening  down,  from 
precedent  to  precedent,"  until,  when  the  moment  of 
supreme  trial  came  to  the  Thirteen  Colonies,  the  de- 

68 


THE    FREIGHT   OF    THE    "MAYFLOWER" 

scendants  of  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Puritans,  and  the 
men  who  had  absorbed  their  ideas,  put  New  England 
in  the  van  of  patriotism  and  progress.  It  is  a  noble 
record,  and  a  pregnant  example  to  all  friends  of 
freedom. 

In  suggestive  contrast  with  this  was  the  Jamestown 
enterprise.  As  we  have  seen,  this  colony  was  saved 
from  almost  immediate  extinction  solely  by  the  genius 
and  energy  of  one  man,  whom  his  fellow  members  had 
at  first  tried  to  exclude  altogether  from  their  councils 
and  companionship.  Belonging  to  a  class  socially 
higher  and  presumably  more  intelligent  than  the  Pil- 
grims, and  continually  furnished  with  supplies  from 
the  company  in  England,  they  were  unable  during 
twelve  years  to  make  any  independent  stand  against 
disaster.  In  a  climate  which  was  as  salubrious  as  that 
of  New  England  was  rigorous,  and  with  a  soil  as 
fertile  as  any  in  the  world,  they  dwindled  and  starved, 
and  their  dearest  wish  was  to  return  to  England.  They 
were  saved  at  last  (as  we  shall  presently  see)  by  two 
things;  first,  by  the  discovery  of  the  value  of  tobacco 
as  an  export,  and  of  its  usefulness  as  a  currency  for 
the  internal  trade  of  the  country;  and  secondly,  and 
much  more,  by  the  Charter  of  1618,  which  gave  the 
people  the  privilege  of  helping  to  make  their  own  laws. 
That  year  marked  the  beginning  of  civil  liberty  in 
America;  but  what  it  had  taken  the  Jamestown 
colonists  twelve  weary  and  disastrous  years  to  attain, 
was  claimed  by  the  pious  farmers  of  Plymouth  before 
ever  they  set  foot  on  Forefather's  Rock.  Willingness  to 
labor,  zeal  for  the  common  welfare,  indifference  to 
wealth,  independence,  moral,  and  religious  integrity 
and  fervor — these  were  some  of  the  traits  and  virtues 
whose  cultivation  made  the  Pilgrims  prosperous,  and 
the  neglect  or  lack  of  which  discomfited  the  Virginia 
settlers.  The  latter,  man  for  man,  were  by  nature  as 
capable  as  the  former  of  profiting  by  right  conditions 
and  training;  and  as  soon  as  they  obtained  them  they 
showed  favorable  results.  But  in  the  meantime  the 
lesson  was  driven  home  that  a  virgin  country  cannot 
be  subdued  and  rendered  productive  by  selfish  and  un- 

69 


HISTORY   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES 

just  procedure:  a  homely  and  hackneyed  lesson,  but 
one  which  can  never  be  too  often  quoted,  since  each 
fresh  generation  must  buy  its  own  experience,  and  it 
often  happens  that  a  situation  essentially  old  assumes 
a  novel  aspect,  owing  to  external  modifications  of  time 
and  place. 

The  Plymouth  colony,  after  remaining  long  sepa- 
rate and  self-supporting,  consented  to  a  union  with 
the  larger  and  richer  settlements  of  Massachusetts. 
The  charter  secured  by  the  latter,  and  the  manner  in 
which  it  was  administered,  were  alike  remarkable.  The 
granting  of  it  was  facilitated  by  the  threatened  en- 
croachments of  other  than  Englishmen  upon  the  New 
England  domain;  it  was  represented  to  Charles  that 
it  was  necessary  to  be  beforehand  with  these  gentry,  if 
they  were  to  be  restrained.  Charles  was  on  the  verge 
of  that  rupture  with  law  and  order  in  his  own  realm 
which  culminated  in  his  dismissal  of  Parliament,  and 
for  ten  years  attempting  the  task  of  governing  Eng- 
land without  it.  He  approved  the  charter  without  ade- 
quately realizing  the  full  breadth  and  pregnancy  of  its 
provisions,  which,  in  effect,  secured  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical emancipation  to  the  settlers  under  it.  But  what 
was  quite  as  important  was  the  consideration  that  it 
went  into  effect  at  a  time  incomparably  favorable  to 
its  success.  The  Plymouth  colony  had  proved  that  a 
godly  and  self-denying  community  could  flourish  in  the 
wilderness,  in  the  enjoyment  of  spiritual  blessings  un- 
attainable at  home.  The  power  of  English  prelacy  did 
not  extend  beyond  the  borders  of  England :  idolatrous 
ceremonies  could  be  eschewed  in  Massachusetts  with- 
out fear  of  persecution.  Thousands  of  Puritans  were 
prepared  to  give  up  their  homes  for  the  sake  of  liberty, 
and  only  waited  assurance  that  it  could  be  obtained. 
The  condition  of  society  and  education  in  England  was 
vicious  and  corrupt ;  and  though  it  might  become  brave 
and  true  men  to  suffer  persecution  in  witness  of  their 
faith,  yet  there  was  danger  that  their  children  might 
be  induced  to  fall  away  from  the  truth  after  they  were 
gone.  Martyrdom  was  well,  but  it  must  not  be  allowed 
to  such  an  extreme  as  to  extirpate  the  proclaimers  of 

70 


THE    FREIGHT   OF   THE    "MAYFLOWER" 

the  truth.  Many  of  those  who  were  prepared  to  take 
advantage  of  the  charter  were  of  the  best  stock  in  Eng- 
land, men  of  brains  and  substaWe  as  well  as  piety; 
graduates  of  the  universities,  country  gentlemen,  men 
of  the  world  and  of  affairs.  A  colony  made 'of  such  ele- 
ments would  be  a  new  thing  in  the  earth ;  it  would  com- 
prise all  that  was  strong  and  wise  in  human  society, 
and  would  exclude  every  germ  of  weakness  and  frailty. 
The  sealing  of  the  charter  was  like  the  touching  of  the 
electric  button  which,  in  our  day,  sets  in  motion  for  the 
first  time  a  vast  mechanical  system,  or  fires  a  simultane- 
ous salute  of  guns  in  a  hundred  cities.  King  Charles  I, 
who  was  to  lose  his  anointed  head  on  the  block  because 
he  tried  to  crush  popular  liberty  in  England,  was  the 
immediate  human  instrument  of  giving  the  purest  form 
of  such  liberty  to  English  exiles  beyond  the  sea. 

The  charter  constituted  an  organization  called  the 
Governor  and  Company  of  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New 
England.  The  governor,  annually  elected  by  the  mem- 
bers, was  assisted  by  a  deputy  and  assistants,  and  was 
to  call  a  business  meeting  monthly  or  oftener,  and  in 
addition  was  to  preside  four  times  a  year  at  an  assem- 
bly of  the  whole  body  of  the  freemen,  to  make  laws  and 
determine  appointments.  Freedom  of  Puritan  worship 
was  assured,  in  part  explicitly,  in  part  tacitly.  The 
King  had  no  direct  relation  with  their  proceedings,  be- 
yond the  general  and  vague  claims  of  royal  prerogative ; 
and  it  was  an  open  question  whether  Parliament  had 
the  power  to  override  the  authority  of  the  patentees. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  charter  was  in  no  respect 
inharmonious  with  the  system  of  self-government  which 
had  grown  up  among  the  Plymouth  colonists ;  it  was  a 
more  complete  and  definite  formulation  of  principles 
which  must  ever  be  supported  by  men  who  wish  so  to 
live  as  to  obtain  the  highest  social  and  religious  wel- 
fare. It  was  the  stately  flowering  of  a  seed  already 
obscurely  planted,  and  though  it  was  to  be  now  and 
again  checked  in  its  development,  would  finally  bear 
the  fruit  of  the  Tree  of  Life. 


71 


CHAPTEK  III 

THE   SPIRIT   OF   THE   PURITANS 

AfONG  the  characteristic  figures  of  this  age,  none 
shows  stronger  lineaments  than  that  of  John 
Endicott.  He  was,  at  the  time  of  his  coming  to 
Massachusetts,  not  yet  forty  years  of  age ;  he  remained 
there  till  his  death  at  six-and-seventy.  He  was  repeat- 
edly elected  Governor,  and  died  in  the  Governor's  chair. 
In  1645  he  was  made  Major  General  of  the  Colonial 
troops;  nine  years  before  he  had  headed  a  campaign 
against  the  Pequot  Indians.  His  character  illustrated 
the  full  measure  of  Puritan  sternness;  he  was  an  in- 
flexible persecutor  of  the  Quakers,  and  was  instru- 
mental in  causing  four  of  them  to  be  executed  in  Bos- 
ton. In  his  career  is  found  no  feeble  passage;  he  was 
always  Endicott.  He  was  a  man  grown  before  he  at- 
tained, under  the  ministrations  of  Samuel  Skelton  of 
Cambridge,  in  England,  the  religious  awakening  which 
placed  him  in  the  forefront  of  the  Puritan  dissenters 
of  his  time;  and  it  may  be  surmised  that  the  force  of 
nature  which  gave  him  his  self-command  would,  other- 
wise directed,  have  opened  still  wider  the  gates  of 
license  and  recklessness  which  marked  the  conduct  of 
many  in  that  period.  But,  having  taken  his  course,  he 
disciplined  himself  to  the  strictest  observances,  and  re- 
quired them  of  others.  He  was  a  man  of  perfect  moral 
and  physical  courage,  austere  and  choleric;  yet  there 
was  in  him  a  certain  cheerfulness  and  kindliness,  like 
sunshine  touching  the  ruggedness  of  a  granite  bowlder. 
An  old  portrait  of  him  presents  a  full  and  ruddy  coun- 
tenance, without  a  beard,  and  with  large  eyes  which 
gaze  sternly  out  upon  the  beholder.  When  the  Massa- 
chusetts Company  was  formed,  it  contained  many  men 
of  pith  and  mark,  such  as  Saltonstall,  Bellingham, 
Eaton,  and  others;  but,  by  common  consent,  Endicott 

72 


THE    SPIRIT    OF    THE    PURITANS 

was  chosen  as  the  first  Governor  of  the  new  realm,  and 
he  sailed  for  Boston  harbor  in  June,  1628.  He  took 
with  him  his  wife  and  children,  and  a  small  following 
of  fit  companions,  and  landed  in  September. 

Many  tales  are  told  of  the  doings  of  Endicott  in 
Massachusetts.  Like  those  of  all  strong  men,  his  deeds 
were  often  embellished  with  legendary  ornaments,  but 
the  exaggerations,  if  such  there  be,  are  colored  by  a 
true  conception  of  his  character.  At  the  time  of  his 
advent,  there  was  at  Merrymount,  or  Mount  Wollaston, 
now  within  the  boundaries  of  Quincy,  near  Boston,  a 
colony  which  was  a  survival  of  the  one  founded  by 
Thomas  Weston,  through  the  agency  of  Thomas  Mor- 
ton, an  English  lawyer,  who  was  more  than  once 
brought  to  book  for  unpuritanical  conduct.  Here  was 
collected,  in  1628,  a  number  of  waifs  and  strays,  and 
other  persons,  not  in  sympathy  with  the  rigorous  habits 
of  the  Puritans,  whose  proceedings  were  of  a  more  or 
less  licentious  and  unbecoming  quality,  calculated  to 
disturb  the  order  and  propriety  of  the  realm.  Endicott, 
on  being  apprised  of  their  behavior,  went  thither  with 
some  armed  men,  and  put  a  summary  end  to  the  col- 
ony ;  Morton  was  sent  back  to  England,  and  the  "revel- 
ries" which  he  had  countenanced  or  promoted  were 
seen  no  more  in  Massachusetts.  The  era  for  gayeties 
had  not  yet  come  in  the  new  world.  Endicott  would 
not  be  satisfied  with  crushing  out  evil ;  he  would  also 
nip  in  the  bud  all  such  lightsome  and  frivolous  con- 
duct as  might  lead  those  who  indulged  in  it  to  forget 
the  dangers  and  difficulties  attending  the  planting  of 
the  reformed  faith  in  the  wilderness. 

More  impressive  yet  is  the  story  of  how  he  resented 
the  project  of  Laud,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and 
the  most  zealous  supporter  of  the  follies  and  iniquities 
of  King  Charles,  to  force  the  ritual  of  the  orthodox 
church  upon  the  people  of  Massachusetts.  When  Endi- 
cott received  from  Governor  Winthrop  the  letter  con- 
taining this  news,  whose  purport,  if  carried  out,  would 
undo  all  that  the  Puritans  had  most  passionately  la- 
bored to  establish;  for  which  they  had  given  up  their 
homes  and  friends,  and  to  the  safeguarding  of  which 

73 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

they  had  pledged  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their 
sacred  honor :  he  was  deeply  stirred,  and  resolved  that 
a  public  demonstration  should  be  made  of  the  irrevoca- 
ble opposition  of  the  people  to  the  measure.  He  was 
at  that  time  captain  of  the  trained  band  of  Salem, 
which  was  used  to  meet  for  drill  in  the  square  of  the 
little  settlement.  It  had  for  a  long  time  disquieted 
Endicott  and  other  Puritan  leaders  that  the  banner  of 
England,  under  which,  as  Englishmen,  they  must  live 
and  fight,  should  bear  upon  it  the  sign  of  the  red  cross, 
which  was  the  very  emblem  of  the  popery  which  their 
souls  abhorred.  It  had  seemed  to  them  almost  a  sin 
to  tolerate  it ;  and  yet  it  was  treason  to  take  any  liber- 
ties with  the  national  ensign.  But  Endicott  was  now 
in  a  mood  to  encounter  any  risk ;  since,  if  Laud's  will 
were  enforced,  there  would  be  little  left  in  New  Eng- 
land worth  fighting  for. 

Accordingly,  on  the  next  training  day,  when  the  able 
men  of  Salem  were  drawn  up  in  their  breastplates  and 
headpieces,  with  the  Bed  Cross  flag  floating  over  them, 
and  the  rest  of  the  townspeople,  with  here  and  there 
an  Indian  among  them,  looking  on:  Endicott,  in  his 
armor,  with  his  sword  upon  his  thigh,  spoke  in  pas- 
sionate terms  to  the  assembly  of  the  matter  which 
weighed  upon  his  heart.  And  then,  as  a  symbol  of  the 
Puritan  protest,  and  a  pledge  of  his  vital  sincerity,  he 
took  the  banner  in  his  hand,  and,  drawing  his  sword, 
cut  the  cross  out  of  its  folds.  The  unparalleled  audac- 
ity and  rashness  of  this  act,  which  might  have  brought 
upon  New  England  a  revocation  of  her  charter  and 
destruction  of  the  liberties  which  already  exceeded 
those  vouchsafed  to  Englishmen  at  home,  alarmed  Win- 
throp,  and  sent  a  thrill  throughout  the  colony.  But 
the  deed  was 'too  public  to  be  disavowed,  and  Endicott 
and  they  must  abide  the  consequences.  Information 
of  the  outrage  was  carried  to  Charles ;  but  he  was  for- 
tunately too  much  preoccupied  at  the  moment  with  the 
struggle  for  his  crown  at  home  to  be  able  to  take  proper 
action  upon  the  slight  put  upon  his  authority  in 
Salem. 

No  punishment  was  inflicted  upon  the  bold  soldier, 

74 


THE    SPIRIT   OF    THE    PURITANS 

who  thus  anticipated  by  nearly  a  century  and  a  half 
the  step  finally  taken  by  the  patriots  of  1776. 

To  return,  however,  to  Endicott's  arrival  in  Boston 
(as  it  was  afterward  named,  in  honor  of  that  Lincoln- 
shire Boston  from  which  many  of  the  emigrants  came). 
There  were  already  a  few  settlers  there,  who  had  come 
in  from  various  motives,  and  one  or  two  of  whom  were 
inclined  to  assert  squatter  sovereignty.  The  rights  of 
the  Indians  were  respected,  in  accordance  with  the  in- 
junctions of  the  company;  and  Sagamore  John,  who 
asserted  his  rights  as  chief  over  the  neck  of  land  and 
the  hilly  promontory  of  the  present  city,  was  so  cour- 
teously entreated  that  he  permitted  the  erection  of  a 
house  there,  and  the  laying  out  of  streets.  While  these 
preparations  were  going  forward,  the  bulk  of  the  first 
emigration,  numbering  two  hundred  persons,  with  serv- 
ants, cattle,  arms,  and  other  provisions,  entered  the 
harbor.  They  had  had  a  prosperous  and  pious  voyage, 
being  much  refreshed  with  religious  services  performed 
daily;  and  it  may  be  recorded  as  perhaps  a  unique  fact 
in  the  annals  of  ocean  navigation  that  the  ship  cap- 
tain and  the  sailors  punctuated  the  setting  of  the  morn- 
ing and  noon  watches  with  the  singing  of  psalms  and 
with  prayer.  This  sounds  apocryphal ;  but  it  is  stated 
in  the  narrative  of  "New  England's  Plantation,"  writ- 
ten and  circulated  by  Mr.  Higginson  soon  after  their 
arrival ;  and  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  ship  car- 
ried a  supply  of  personages  of  the  clerical  profession 
out  of  proportion  to  the  number  of  the  rest  of  the  pas- 
sengers. But  palliate  the  marvel  how  we  may,  we  can- 
nof  help  smiling  at  it,  and  at  the  same  time  regretting 
that  the  Puritans  themselves  probably  had  no  realiza- 
tion of  the  miracle  which  was  transacting  under  their 
noses.  They  doubtless  regarded  it  as  a  matter  of  course, 
instead  of  a  thing  to  occur  but  once  in  a  precession  of 
the  equinoxes. 

And  now,  it  might  be  supposed,  began  the  building 

of  the  city :  the  clearing  of  the  forest,  the  chopping  of 

wood,  the  sawing  of  beams,  the  digging  of  foundations, 

.the  ringing  of  hammers,  and  the  uprising  on  every  side 

of  the  dwellings  of  civilization.    And  certainly  steps 

75 


were  taken  to  provide  the  company  with  shelter  from 
the  present  summer  heats  and  from  the  snows  of  win- 
ter to  come ;  and  they  had  brought  with  them  artisans 
skilled  to  do  the  necessary  work.  But  though  the 
Puritans  never  could  be  called  remiss  in  respect  of 
making  due  provision  for  the  necessities  of  this  life, 
yet  all  was  done  with  a  view  to  the  conditions  of  the 
life  to  come;  and  in  the  annals  of  the  time  we  read 
more  of  the  prayers  and  fasts,  the  choosing  of  minis- 
ters, and  the  promotion  and  practice  of  godliness  in 
general,  than  we  do  of  any  temporal  matters.  Men 
there  were,  like  Endicott,  who  united  the  strictest  re- 
ligious zeal  with  all  manner  of  practical  abilities ;  but 
there  were  many,  too,  who  had  been  no  more  accus- 
tomed to  shift  for  themselves  than  were  the  gentlemen 
of  Jamestown.  They  differed  from  the  latter,  however, 
in  an  enlightened  conception  of  the  work  before  them, 
in  enthusiasm  for  the  commonweal,  and  in  determina- 
tion to  familiarize  themselves  as  soon  as  possible  with 
the  requirements  of  their  situation.  The  town  did  not 
come  up  in  a  night,  like  the  shanty  cities  of  our  west- 
ern pioneers;  nor  did  it  contain  gambling  houses  and 
liquor  saloons  as  its  chief  public  buildings.  These  men 
were  building  a  social  structure  meant  to  last  for  all 
time,  and  houses  in  which  they  hoped  to  pass  the  years 
of  their  natural  lives;  and  they  proceeded  with  what 
we  would  now  consider  unwarrantable  deliberation 
and  with  none  too  much  technical  skill.  They  sought 
neither  wealth  nor  the  luxuries  it  brings;  but,  rather, 
welcomed  hardship,  as  apt  to  chasten  the  spirit;  and 
never  felt  themselves  so  thoroughly  about  their  proper 
business  as  when  they  were  assembled  in  the  four- 
square little  log  hut  which  they  had  consecrated  as 
the  house  of  God.  Boston  and  Salem  grew :  they  were 
larger  and  more  commodious  at  the  end  of  the  twelve- 
month than  they  had  been  at  its  beginning;  but  more 
cannot  be  said.  Sickness,  misfortune,  and  scarcity 
handicapped  the  settlers ;  many  died ;  the  yield  of  their 
crops  was  wholly  inadequate  to  their  needs;  servants 
whose  work  was  indispensable  could  not  be  paid,  and 
were  set  free  to  work  for  themselves,  and  the  outlook 

76 


was  in  all  respects  gloomy.    If  the  enterprise  was  to 
be  saved,  the  Lord  must  speedily  send  succor. 

The  Lord  did  not  forget  His  people.  A  great  relief 
was  already  preparing  for  them,  and  the  way  of  it 
was  thus: 

The  record  of  the  former  chartered  companies  had 
shown  that  conducting  the  affairs  of  colonists  on  the 
other  side  of  the  ocean  was  attended  with  serious  diffi- 
culties on  both  parts.  The  colonists  could  not  make 
their  needs  known  with  precision  enough,  or  in  season, 
to  have  them  adequately  met ;  and  the  governing  com- 
pany was  unable  to  get  a  close  knowledge  of  its  busi- 
ness, or  to  explain  and  enforce  its  requirements.  Fur- 
thermore, there  was  liable  to  be  continual  vexatious  in- 
terference on  the  part  of  the  King  and  his  officers,  detri- 
mental to  the  welfare  of  colonists  and  company  alike. 

The  men  who  constituted  the  Massachusetts  Com- 
pany were  not  concerned  respecting  the  pecuniary 
profits  of  the  venture,  inasmuch  as  they  looked  only 
for  the  treasures  which  moth  nor  rust  can  corrupt; 
their  "plantation"  was  to  the  glory  of  God,  not  to  the 
imbursement  of  man.  Nor  were  they  anxious  to  impose 
their  will  upon  the  emigrants,  or  solicitous  lest  the  lat- 
ter should  act  unseemly;  for  the  men  who  were  there 
were  of  the  same  character  and  aim  as  those  who  were 
in  England,  and  there  could  be  no  differences  between 
them  beyond  such  as  might  legitimately  arise  as  to 
the  most  expedient  way  of  reaching  a  given  end.  But 
the  company  could  easily  apprehend  that  the  King  and 
his  ministers  might  meddle  with  their  projects  and 
bring  them  to  naught;  and  since  those  affairs,  unlike 
mercantile  ones,  were  not  of  a  nature  to  admit  of 
compromise,  they  earnestly  desired  to  prevent  this 
contingency.  j 

Debating  the  matter  among  themselves,  the  leaders 
of  the  organization  conceived  the  idea  of  establishing 
the  headquarters  of  the  company  in  the  midst  of  the 
emigrants  in  America:  of  becoming,  in  other  words,' 
emigrants  themselves,  and  working  side  by  side  with! 
their  brethren  for  the  common  good.  This  plan  offered 
manifest  attractions;  it  would  remove  them  from  un- 

77 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

welcome  propinquity  to  the  court,  would  be  of  great 
assistance  to  the  work  to  do  which  the  company  was 

:  formed,  would  give  them  the  satisfaction  of  feeling  that 
they  were  giving  their  hands  as  well  as  their  hearts  to 
the  service  of  God,  and,  not  least,  would  give  notice  to 
all  the  Puritans  in  England,  now  a  great  and  influen- 
tial body,  that  .America  was  the  most  suitable  ground 
for  their  earthly  sojourning. 

These  considerations  determined  them;  and  it  re- 
mained only  to  put  the  plan  into  execution.  Twelve 
men  of  wealth  and  education,  eminent  among  whom 
was  John  Winthrop,  the  future  Governor  of  the  little 
commonwealth,  met  and  exchanged  solemn  vows  that, 
if  the  transference  could  legally  be  accomplished,  they 
would  personally  voyage  to  New  England  and  take  up 
their  permanent  residence  there.  The  question  was 
shortly  after  put  to  the  general  vote,  and  unanimously 
agreed  to;  a  commercial  corporation  (as  ostensibly  the 
company  was)  created  itself  the  germ  of  an  independ- 
ent commonwealth ;  and  on  October  20  John  Winthrop 
was  chosen  Governor  for  the  ensuing  twelvemonth; 
money  was  subscribed  to  defray  expenses;  as  speedily 
as  possible  ships  were  chartered  or  purchased;  the 
numbers  of  the  members  of  the  company  were  increased, 
and  their  resources  augmented,  by  the  addition  of  many 
outside  persons  in  harmony  with  the  movement,  and 
willing  to  support  it  with  their  fortunes  and  them- 
selves; and  by  the  early  spring  of  1630  a  fleet  of  no 
less  than  seventeen  ships,  accommodating  nearly  a  thou- 
sand emigrants  representing  the  very  best  blood  and 
brain  of  England,  was  ready  to  sail. 

At  the  moment  of  departing  there  was  a  quailing  of 

I  the  spirit  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  emigrants ;  but 
Winthrop  comforted  them ;  he  told  them  that  they  must 
"keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace"; 
that,  in  the  wilderness,  they  would  see  more  of  God 
than  they  could  in  England ;  and  that  their  plantation 
should  be  of  such  a  quality  as  that  the  founders  of 
future  plantations  should  pray  that  "The  Lord  make 
it  likely  that  of  New  England."  These  were  good  words. 
Nevertheless,  there  were  not  a  few  seceders,  and  it  was 

78 


THE    SPIRIT   OF   THE   PURITANS 

not  till  the  year  had  advanced  that  the  full  number  of 
vessels  found  their  way  to  the  port  of  Boston.  But 
eleven  ships,  including  the  Arbella,  which  bore  Win- 
throp,  sailed  at  once,  with  seven  hundred  men  and 
women,  and  every  appliance  that  experience  and  fore- 
thought could  suggest  for  the  convenience  and  further- 
ance of  life  in  a  new  country.  Their  going  made  a  deep 
impression  throughout  England. 

And  well  it  might!  For  these  people  were  not  un- 
known and  rude,  like  the  Plymouth  Pilgrims ;  they  were 
not  fiercely  intolerant  fanatics,  whose  sincerity  might 
be  respected,  but  whose  company  must  be  irksome  to  all 
less  extreme  than  themselves.  They  were  of  gentle 
blood  and  training;  persons  whose  acquaintance  was 
a  privilege;  who  added  to  the  richness  and  charm  of 
social  life.  That  people  of  this  kind  should  remove 
themselves  to  the  wilderness  meant  much  more,  to  the 
average  mind,  than  that  religions  outcasts  like  the  Pil- 
grims should  do  so.  For  the  latter,  one  place  might  be 
as  good  as  another;  but  that  the  others  should  give  up 
their  homes  and  traditions  for  the  hardships  and  isola- 
tion of  such  an  existence  seemed  incomprehensible ;  and 
when  no  other  motive  could  be  found  than  that  which 
they  professed — "the  honor  of  God" — grave  thoughts 
could  not  but  be  awakened.  The  sensation  was  some- 
what the  same  as  if,  in  our  day,  a  hundred  thousand 
of  the  most  favorably  known  and  highly  endowed  per- 
sons in  the  country  were  to  remove  to  Chinese  Tartary 
to  escape  from  the  corruption  and  frivolity  of  business 
and  social  life,  and  to  create  an  ideal  community  in 
the  desert.  We  could  smile  at  such  a  hegira  if  Tom, 
Dick  and  Harry  were  concerned  in  it ;  but  if  the  men 
and  women  of  light  and  leading  abandoned  us,  the  im- 
plied indictment  is  worth  heeding. 

The  personal  character  and  nature  of  Winthrop  are 
well  known,  and  may  serve  as  a  type  for  the  milder 
aspect  of  his  companions.  He  was  of  a  gentle  and  con- 
ciliating temper,  affectionate,  and  prizing  the  affection 
of  others.  There  was  a  certain  sweetness  about  him, 
a  tendency  to  mild  joyousness,  a  desire  to  harmonize 
all  conflicts,  a  disposition  to  think  good,  that  good 

79 


OF   THE   UNITED    STATES 

might  come  of  it.  He  was  indisposed  to  violence  in 
opinion  as  much  as  in  act;  he  believed  that  love  was 
the  fulfilling  of  the  law,  and  would  dissolve  opposition 
to  the  law,  if  it  were  allowed  time  and  opportunity. 
His  cultivated  intellect  recognized  a  certain  inevitable- 
ness,  or  preordained  growth  in  mortal  affairs,  which 
made  him  sympathetic  even  toward  those  who  differed 
from  him,  for  did  they  not  use  the  best  light  they  had? 
He  conformed  to  the  English  church,  and  yet  he  ab- 
sented himself  from  England,  not  being  willing  to  con- 
demn the  orthodox  ritual,  yet  feeling  that  the  Gospel 
in  its  purity  could  be  more  intimately  enjoyed  in  Amer- 
ica. He  was  no  believer  in  the  theory  of  democratic 
equality;  it  seemed  to  him  contrary  to  natural  order; 
there  were  degrees  and  gradations  in  all  things,  men 
included;  there  were  those  fitted  to  govern,  and  those 
fitted  to  serve;  power  should  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
few,  but  they  should  be  "the  wisest  of  the  best."  He 
had  no  doubts  as  to  the  obligations  of  loyalty  to  the 
King,  and  yet  he  gave  up  home  and  ease  to  live  where 
the  King  was  a  sentiment  rather  than  a  fact.  But  be- 
neath all  this  engaging  softness  there  was  strength  in 
Winthrop ;  the  fiber  of  him  was  fine,  but  it  was  of  reso- 
lute temper.  Simple  goodness  is  one  of  the  mightiest 
of  powers,  and  he  was  good  in  all  simplicity.  He  could 
help  his  servants  in  the  humblest  household  drudgery, 
and  yet  preserve  the  dignity  befitting  the  governor  of 
the  people.  He  was  not  a  man  to  be  bullied  or  terrified, 
but  his  wisdom  and  forbearance  disarmed  an  enemy, 
and  thus  removed  all  need  of  fighting  him.  He  domi- 
nated those  around  him  spontaneously  and  involun- 
tarily ;  they,  as  it  were,  insisted  upon  being  led  by  him, 
and  commanded  him  to  exact  their  obedience.  His  in- 
fluence was  purifying,  encouraging,  uplifting,  and  upon 
the  whole  conservative ;  had  he  lived  a  hundred  years 
later,  he  would  not  have  been  found  by  the  side  of 
Adams,  Patrick  Henry,  and  James  Otis.  Sympathy 
and  courtesy  made  him  seem  yielding;  yet,  like  a  tree 
that  bends  to  the  breeze,  he  still  maintained  his  place, 
and  was  less  changeable  than  many  whose  stubborn- 
ness did  not  prevent  their  drifting.  His  insight  and 

80 


intelligence  may  have  enabled  him  to  foresee  to  what 
a  goal  the  New  England  settlers  were  bound;  but 
though  he  would  have  sympathized  with  them,  he  would 
not  have  been  swayed  to  join  them.  As  it  was,  he 
wrought  only  good  to  them,  for  they  were  in  the  forma- 
tive stage,  when  moderation  helps  instead  of  hindering. 
He  mediated  between  the  state  they  were  approaching 
and  that  from  which  they  came,  and  he  died  before  the 
need  of  alienating  himself  from  them  arrived.  His  reso- 
luteness was  shown  in  his  resistance  to  Anne  Hutchin- 
son  and  her  supporter,  Sir  Harry  Vane,  who  professed 
the  heresy  that  faith  absolved  from  obedience  to  the 
moral  law;  they  were  forced  to  quit  the  colony;  and 
so  was  Roger  Williams,  as  lovely  as  and  in  some  re- 
spects a  loftier  character  than  Winthrop.  In  reviewing 
the  career  of  this  distinguished  and  engaging  man,  we 
are  surprised  that  he  should  have  found  it  on  his  con- 
science to  leave  England.  Endicott  was  born  to  subdue 
the  wilderness,  and  so  was  many  another  of  the  Puri- 
tans ;  but  it  seems  as  if  Winthrop  might  have  done  and 
said  in  King  Charles's  palace  all  that  he  did  and  said 
in  Massachusetts  without  offense.  But  it  is  probable 
that  his  moderation  appears  greater  in  the  primitive 
environment  than  it  would  have  done  in  the  civil- 
ized one;  and  again,  the  impulse  to  restrain  others 
from  excess  may  have  made  him  incline  more  than 
he  would  otherwise  have  done  toward  the  other 
side. 

But  tradition  has  too  much  disposed  us  to  think  of 
the  Puritans  as  of  men  who  had  thrown  aside  all 
human  tenderness  and  sympathy,  and  were  sternly  and 
gloomily  preoccupied  with  the  darker  features  of  reli- 
gion exclusively.  Winthrop  corrects  this  judgment ;  he 
was  a  Puritan,  though  he  was  sunny  and  gentle;  and 
there  were  many  others  who  more  or  less  resembled 
him.  The  reason  that  the  somber  type  is  the  better 
known  is  partly  because  of  its  greater  picturesqueness 
and  singularity,  and  partly  because  the  early  life  of 
New  England  was  on  the  whole  militant  and  aggressive, 
and  therefore  brought  the  rigid  and  positive  qualities 
more  prominently  forward. 

81 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

It  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  piety  of  the 
dominating  powers  in  Massachusetts  during  the  first 
years  of  the  colony's  existence.  It  was  almost  a  mysti- 
cism. That  intimate  and  incommunicable  experience 
which  is  sometimes  called  "getting  religion" — the  Lord 
knocking  at  the  door  of  the  heart  and  being  admitted — 
was  made  the  condition  of  admission  to  the  responsible 
offices  of  government.  This  was  to  make  God  the  ruler, 
through  instruments  chosen  by  Himself — theoretically 
a  perfect  arrangement,  but  in  practice  open  to  the 
gravest  perils.  It  not  merely  paved  the  way  to  im- 
posture, but  invited  it ;  and  the  most  dangerous  impos- 
ture is  that  which  imposes  on  the  impostor  himself. 
It  created  an  oligarchy  of  the  most  insidious  and  un- 
assailable type :  a  communion  of  earthly  "saints,"  who 
might  be,  and  occasionally  were,  satans  at  heart.  It 
is  essentially  at  variance  with  democracy,  which  it  re- 
gards as  a  surrender  to  the  selfish  license  of  the  lowest 
range  of  unregenerate  human  nature;  and  yet  it  is 
incompatible  with  hereditary  monarchy,  because  the 
latter  is  based  on  uninspired  or  mechanical  selection. 
The  writings  of  Cotton  Mather  exhibit  the  peculiarities 
and  inconsistencies  of  Puritanism  in  the  most  favor- 
able and  translucent  light,  for  Mather  was  himself 
wedded  to  them,  and  of  a  most  inexhaustible  fertility 
in  their  exposition. 

Winthrop  was  responsible  for  the  "Oath  of  Fidelity," 
which  required  its  taker  to  suffer  no  attempt  to  change 
or  alter  the  government  contrary  to  its  laws;  and  for 
the  law  excluding  from  the  freedom  of  the  body  politic 
all  who  were  not  members  of  its  church  communion. 
The  people,  however,  stipulated  that  the  elections  should 
be  annual,  and  each  town  chose  two  representatives  to 
attend  the  court  of  assistants.  But  having  thus  as- 
serted their  privileges,  they  forbore  to  interfere  with 
the  judgment  of  their  leaders,  and  maintained  them  in 
office.  The  possible  hostility  of  England,  the  strange- 
ness and  dangers  of  their  surroundings  in  America, 
and  the  appalling  prevalence  of  disease  and  mortality 
among  them,  possibly  drove  them  to  a  more  than  nor- 
mal fervor  of  piety.  Since  God  was  so  manifestly  their 

82 


THE    SPIRIT   OF   THE   PURITANS 

only  sword  and  shield,  and  was  reputed  to  be  so  terri- 
ble and  implacable  in  His  resentments,  it  behooved  them 
to  omit  no  means  of  conciliating  His  favor. 

Winthrop  found  anything  but  a  land  flowing  with 
milk  and  honey  when  he  arrived  at  Salem,  where  the 
ships  first  touched.  As  when,  twenty  years  before, 
Delaware  came  to  Jamestown,  the  people  were  on  the 
verge  of  starvation,  and  it  was  necessary  to  send  a 
vessel  back  to  England  for  supplies.  There  were  acute 
suffering  and  scarcity  all  along  the  New  England  coast, 
and  though  the  spirit  of  resignation  was  there,  it 
seemed  likely  that  there  would  be  soon  little  flesh  left 
through  which  to  manifest  it.  The  physical  conditions 
were  intolerable.  The  hovels  in  which  the  people  were 
living  were  wretched  structures  of  rough  logs,  roofed 
with  straw,  with  wooden  chimneys  and  narrow  and 
darksome  interiors.  They  were  patched  with  bark  and 
rags;  many  were  glad  to  lodge  themselves  in  tents 
devised  of  fragments  of  drapery  hung  on  a  framework 
of  boughs.  The  settlement  was  in  that  transition  state 
between  crude  wilderness  and  pioneer  town,  when  the 
appearance  is  most  repulsive  and  disheartening.  There 
is  no  order,  uniformity,  or  intelligent  procedure.  There 
is  a  clump  of  trees  of  the  primeval  forest  here,  the 
stumps  and  litter  of  a  half-made  clearing  there,  yon- 
der a  patch  of  soil  newly  and  clumsily  planted;  wig- 
wams and  huts  alternate  with  one  another;  men  are 
digging,  hewing,  running  to  head  back  straying  cattle, 
toiling  in  with  fragments  of  game  on  their  shoulders ; 
yonder  a  grave  is  being  dug  in  the  root-encumbered 
ground,  and  hard  by  a  knot  of  mourners  are  preparing 
the  corpse  for  interment.  There  is  no  rest  or  comfort 
anywhere  for  eye  or  heart.  The  only  approximately 
decent  dwelling  in  Salem  at  this  time  was  that  of 
John  Endicott.  Higginson  was  dying  of  a  fever. 
Lady  Arbella,  who  had  accompanied  her  husband, 
Isaac  Johnson,  had  been  ailing  on  the  voyage  and  lin- 
gered here  but  a  little  while  before  finding  a  grave.  In 
a  few  months  two  hundred  persons  perished.  It  was 
no  place  for  weaklings — or  for  evildoers  either ;  among 
the  earliest  of  the  established  institutions  were  the 

83 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

stocks  and  the  whipping  post,  and  they  were  not 
allowed  to  stand  idle. 

Winthrop  and  most  of  the  others  soon  moved  on 
down  the  coast  toward  Boston.  It  had  been  the  origi- 
nal intention  to  keep  the  emigrants  in  one  body,  but 
that  was  found  impracticable;  they  were  forced  to 
divide  up  into  small  parties,  who  settled  where  they 
best  could,  over  an  area  of  fifty  or  a  hundred  miles. 
Nantasket,  Watertown,  Charlestown,  Saugus,  Lynn, 
Maiden,  Roxbury,  all  had  their  handfuls  of  inhabitants. 
It  was  exile  within  exile;  for  miles  meant  something 
in  these  times.  More  than  a  hundred  of  the  emigrants, 
cowed  by  the  prospect,  deserted  the  cause  and  returned 
to  England.  Yet  Winthrop  and  the  other  leaders  did 
not  lose  heart,  and  their  courage  and  tranquillity 
strengthened  the  others.  It  is  evidence  of  the  indomi- 
table spirit  of  these  people  that  one  of  their  first  acts 
was  to  observe  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer ;  a  few  days 
later  the  members  of  the  congregation  met  and  chose 
their  pastor,  John  Wilson,  and  organized  the  first 
church  of  Boston.  They  did  not  wait  to  build  the 
house  of  God,  but  met  beneath  the  trees  or  gathered 
round  a  rock  which  might  serve  the  preacher  as  a  pul- 
pit. There  was  simplicity  enough  to  satisfy  the  most 
conscientious.  "We  here  enjoy  God  and  Jesus  Christ," 
wrote  Winthrop.  "I  do  not  repent  my  coming :  I  never 
had  more  content  of  mind." 

After  a  year  there  were  but  a  thousand  settlers  in 
Massachusetts.  Among  them  was  Roger  Williams,  a 
man  so  pure  and  true  as  of  himself  to  hallow  the  col- 
ony ;  but  it  is  illustrative  of  the  intolerance  which  was 
from  the  first  inseparable  from  Puritanism,  that  he  was 
driven  away  because  he  held  conscience  to  be  the  only 
infallible  guide.  We  cannot  blame  the  Puritans ;  they 
had  paid  a  high  price  for  their  faith,  and  they  could 
not  but  guard  it  jealously.  Their  greatest  peril  seemed 
to  them  to  be  dissension  or  disagreements  on  points  of 
belief ;  except  they  held  together  their  whole  cause  was 
lost.  Williams  was  no  less  an  exile  for  conscience, 
sake  than  they;  but  as  he  persisted  in  having  a  con- 
tcience  strictly  his  own,  instead  of  pooling  it  with  that 

84 


of  the  church,  they  were  constrained  to  let  him  go. 
They  did  not  perceive,  then  or  afterward,  that  such 
action  argued  feeble  faith.  They  could  not,  after  all, 
quite  trust  God  to  take  care  of  His  own;  they  dared 
not  believe  that  He  could  reveal  Himself  to  others  as 
well  as  to  them ;  they  feared  to  admit  that  they  could 
have  less  than  the  whole  truth  in  their  keeping.  So 
they  banished,  whipped,  pilloried,  and  finally  even 
hanged  dissenters  from  their  dissent.  We,  whose  reli- 
gious tolerance  is  perhaps  as  excessive  as  theirs  was 
deficient,  are  slow  to  excuse  them  for  this;  but  they 
believed  they  were  fighting  for  much  more  than  their 
lives ;  and  as  for  faith  in  God,  it  is  surely  no  worse  to 
fall  into  error  regarding  it  than  to  dismiss  it  altogether. 

In  a  community  where  the  integrity  of  the  church 
was  the  main  subject  of  concern,  it  could  not  be  long 
before  religious  conservatism  would  be  reflected  in  the 
political  field.  Representative  government  was  con- 
ceded in  theory;  but  in  practice  Winthrop  and  others 
thought  that  it  would  be  better  ignored ;  the  people  could 
not  easily  meet  for  deliberations,  and  how  could  their 
affairs  be  in  better  hands  than  those  of  the  saints,  who 
already  had  charge  of  them?  But  the  people  declined 
to  surrender  their  liberties;  there  should  be  rotation 
in  office;  voting  should  be  by  ballot  instead  of  show 
of  hands.  Taxation  was  restricted;  and  in  1635  there 
was  agitation  for  a  written  constitution ;  and  the  rela- 
Hve  authority  of  the  deputies  and  the  assistants  was 
in  debate.  Our  national  predisposition  to  "talk  poli- 
tics" had  already  been  born. 

Among  these  early  inconsistencies  and  disagreements 
Roger  Williams  stood  out  as  the  sole  fearless  and  log- 
ical figure.  Consistency  and  bravery  were  far  from 
being  his  only  good  qualities ;  in  drawing  his  portrait, 
the  difficulty  is  to  find  shadows  with  which  to  set  off 
the  lights  of  his  character.  The  Puritans  feared  the 
world,  and  even  their  own  constancy ;  Williams  feared 
nothing;  but  he  would  reverence  and  obey  his  con- 
science as  the  voice  of  God  in  his  breast,  before  which 
all  other  voices  must  be  hushed.  He  was  not  only  in 
advance  of  his  time:  he  was  abreast  of  any  times; 

85 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

nothing  has  ever  been  added  to  or  detracted  from  his 
argument.  When  John  Adams  wrote  to  his  son,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  "Your  conscience  is  the  Minister  Pleni- 
potentiary of  God  Almighty  placed  in  your  breast:  see 
to  it  that  this  minister  never  negotiates  in  vain,"  he 
did  but  attire  in  the  diplomatic  phraseology  which 
came  naturally  to  him  the  thought  which  Williams 
had  avouched  and  lived  more  than  a  century  before. 
Though  absolutely  radical,  Williams  was  never  an  ex- 
tremist ;  he  simply  went  to  the  f ountainhead  of  reason 
and  truth,  and  let  the  living  waters  flow  whither  they 
might.  The  toleration  which  he  demanded  he  always 
gave;  of  those  who  had  most  evilly  entreated  him  he 
said:  "I  did  ever  from  my  soul  honor  and  love  them, 
even  when  their  judgment  led  them  to  afflict  me."  His 
long  life  was  one  of  the  most  unalloyed  triumphs  of 
unaided  truth  and  charity  that  our  history  records; 
and  the  State  which  he  founded  presented,  during  his 
lifetime,  the  nearest  approach  to  the  true  Utopia  which 
had  thus  far  been  produced. 

Koger  Williams  was  a  Welshman,  born  in  1600,  and 
dying,  in  the  community  which  he  had  created,  eighty- 
five  years  later.    His  school  was  the  famous  Charter- 
Chouse;  his  university,  Cambridge;  and  he  took  orders 
in  the  Church  of  England.     But  the  protests  of  the 
Puritans  came  to  his  ears  before  he  was  well  installed ; 
and  he  examined  and  meditated  upon  them  with  all 
the  quiet  power  of  his  serene  and  penetrating  mind. 
,  It  was  not  long  before  he  saw  that  truth  lay  with  the 
dissenting  party;  and,  like  Emerson  long  afterward, 
I  he  at  once  left  the  communion  in  which  he  had  thought 
j  to  spend  his  life.    He  came  to  Massachusetts  in  1631, 
and,  as  we  have  seen,  was  not  long  in  discovering  that 
he  was  more  Puritan  than  the  Puritans.    When  differ- 
ences arose,  he  departed  to  the  Plymouth  colony,  and 
there  abode  for  several  useful  years. 

But  though  the  men  of  Boston  and  Salem  feared  him, 

they  loved  him  and  recognized  his  ability ;  indeed,  they 

never  could  rid  themselves  of  an  uneasy  sense  that  in 

I  all  their  quarrels  it  was  he  who  had  the  best  of  the 

argument;  they  were  often  reduced  to  pleading  neces- 

86 


THE    SPIRIT    OF    THE    PURITANS 

sity  or  expediency,  when  he  replied  with  plain  truth. 
He  responded  to  an  invitation  to  return  to  Salem,  in 
1633,  by  a  willing  acceptance;  but  no  sooner  had  he 
arrived  than  a  discussion  began  which  continued  until 
he  was  for  the  second  and  final  time  banished  in  1636. 
The  main  bone  of  contention  was  the  right  of  the 
church  to  interfere  in  state  matters.  He  opposed  the- 
ocracy as  profaning  the  holy  peace  of  the  temple  with 
the  warring  of  civil  parties.  The  Massachusetts  mag- 
istrates were  all  church  members,  which  Williams  de- 
clared to  be  as  unreasonable  as  to  make  the  selection 
of  a  pilot  or  a  physician  depend  upon  his  proficiency 
in  theology.  He  would  not  admit  the  warrant  of  magis- 
trates to  compel  attendance  at  public  worship;  it  was 
a  violation  of  natural  right,  and  an  incitement  to 
hypocrisy.  "But  the  ship  must  have  a  pilot,"  objected 
the  magistrates.  "And  he  holds  her  to  her  course  with- 
out bringing  his  crew  to  prayer  in  irons,"  was  Wil- 
liams's  rejoinder.  "We  must  protect  our  people  from 
corruption  and  punish  heresy,"  said  they.  "Conscience 
in  the  individual  can  never  become  public  property; 
and  you,  as  public  trustees,  can  own  no  spiritual 
powers,"  answered  he.  "May  we  not  restrain  the 
church  from  apostasy?"  they  asked.  He  replied:  "No: 
the  common  peace  and  liberty  depend  upon  the  removal 
of  the  yoke  of  soul  oppression." 

The  magistrates  were  perplexed  and  doubtful  what 
to  do.  Laud  in  England  was  menacing  them  with  epis- 
copacy, and  they,  as  a  preparation  for  resistance,  de- 
creed that  all  freemen  must  take  an  oath  of  allegiance 
to  Massachusetts  instead  of  to  the  King.  Williams,  of 
course,  abhorred  episcopacy  as  much  as  they  did;  but 
he  would  not  concede  the  right  to  impose  a  compulsory 
oath.  A  deputation  of  ministers  was  sent  to  Salem  to 
argue  with  him;  he  responded  by  counseling  them  to 
admonish  the  magistrates  of  their  injustice.  He  was 
cited  to  appear  before  the  State  representatives  to 
recant;  he  appeared,  but  only  to  affirm  that  he  was 
ready  to  accept  banishment  or  death  sooner  than  be 
false  to  his  convictions.  Sentence  of  banishment  was 
thereupon  passed  against  him,  but  he  was  allowed  till 

87 


HISTOEY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  ensuing  spring  to  depart ;  meanwhile,  however,  the 
infection  of  his  opinions  spreading  in  Salem,  a  warrant 
was  sent  to  summon  him  to  embark  for  England;  but 
he,  anticipating  this  step,  was  already  on  his  way 
through  the  winter  woods  southward. 

The  pure  wine  of  his  doctrine  was  too  potent  for  the 
iron-headed  Puritans.  But  it  was  their  fears  rather 
than  their  hearts  that  dismissed  him;  those  who  best 
knew  him  praised  him  most  unreservedly;  and  even 
Cotton  Mather  admitted  that  he  seemed  "to  have  the 
root  of  the  matter  in  him." 

Williams's  journey  through  the  pathless  snows  and 
frosts  of  an  exceptionally  severe  winter  is  one  of  the 
picturesque  and  impressive  episodes  of  the  times.  Dur- 
ing more  than  three  months  he  pursued  his  lonely  and 
i  perilous  way;  hollow  trees  were  a  welcome  shelter; 
he  lacked  fire,  food,  and  guides.  But  he  had  always 
pleaded  in  behalf  of  the  Indians ;  he  had  on  one  occa- 
sion denied  the  validity  of  a  royal  grant  unless  it  were 
countersigned  by  native  proprietors;  and  during  his 
residence  in  Plymouth  he  had  learned  the  Indian  lan- 
guage. All  this  now  stood  him  in  good  stead.  The  man 
who  was  outcast  from  the  society  of  his  white  brethren, 
because  his  soul  was  purer  and  stronger  than  theirs, 
was  received  and  ministered  unto  by  the  savages;  he 
knew  their  ways,  was  familiar  in  their  wigwams,  cham- 
pioned their  rights,  wrestled  lovingly  with  their  errors, 
mediated  in  their  quarrels,  and  was  idolized  by  them 
as  was  no  other  of  his  race.  Pokanoket,  Massasoit,  and 
Canonicus  were  his  hosts  and  guardians  during  the  win- 
ter and  spring;  and  in  summer  he  descended  the  river 
in  a  birch-bark  canoe  to  the  site  of  the  present  city 
of  Providence,  so  named  by  him  in  recognition  of  the 
Divine  mercies ;  and  there  he  pitched  his  tent  beside 
the  spring,  hoping  to  make  the  place  "a  shelter  for 
persons  distressed  for  conscience." 

His  desire  was  amply  fulfilled.  The  chiefs  of  the 
Narragansetts  deeded  him  a  large  tract  of  land;  op- 
pressed persons  flocked  to  him  for  comfort  and  succor, 
and  never  in  vain;  a  republic  grew  up  based  on  liberty 
of  conscience,  and  the  civil  rule  of  the  majority:  the 

88 


THE    SPIRIT    OF    THE    PURITANS 

first  in  the  world.  Orthodoxy  and  heresy  were  on  the 
same  footing  before  him;  he  trusted  truth  to  conquer 
error  without  aid  or  force.  Though  he  ultimately  with- 
drew from  all  churches,  he  founded  the  first  Baptist 
church  in  the  new  world;  he  twice  visited  England, 
and  obtained  a  charter  for  his  colony  in  1644.  Wil- 
liams from  first  to  last  sat  on  the  Opposition  Bench  of 
life;  and  we  say  of  him  that  he  was  hardly  used  by 
those  who  should  most  have  honored  him.  Yet  it  is 
probable  that  he  would  have  found  less  opportunity  to 
do  good  at  either  an  earlier  or  a  later  time.  Critics 
so  keen  and  unrelenting  as  he  never  find  favor  with 
the  ruling  powers;  he  would  have  been  at  least  as 
"impossible"  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  as  he  was  in 
the  Seventeenth;  and  we  would  have  had  no  Rhode 
Island  to  give  him.  We  can  derive  more  benefit  from 
his  arraignment  of  society  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
or  more  ago  than  we  should  were  he  to  call  us  to  ac- 
count to-day,  because  no  resentment  mingles  with  our 
intellectual  appreciation:  our  withers  seem  to  be  un- 
wrung.  The  crucifixions  of  a  former  age  are  always  de- 
nounced by  those  who,  if  the  martyr  fell  into  their 
hands,  would  be  the  first  to  nail  him  to  the  cross. 

But  the  Puritanism  of  Williams  and  that  of  those 
who  banished  him  were  as  two  branches  proceeding 
from  a  single  stem;  their  differences,  which  were  the 
type  of  those  that  created  two  parties  in  the  commu- 
nity, were  the  inevitable  result  of  the  opposition  be- 
tween the  practical  and  the  theoretic  temperaments. 
This  opposition  is  organic;  it  is  irreconcilable,  but 
nevertheless  wholesome;  both  sides  possess  versions  of 
the  same  truth,  and  the  perfect  state  arises  from  the 
contribution  made  by  both  to  the  common  good — not 
from  their  amalgamation,  or  from  a  compromise  be- 
tween them.  Williams's  community  was  successful,  but 
it  was  successful,  on  the  lines  he  laid  down,  only  dur- 
ing its  minority;  as  its  population  increased,  civil 
order  was  assured  by  a  tacit  abatement  of  the  right 
of  individual  independence,  and  by  the  insensible  sub- 
ordination of  particular  to  general  interests.  In  Massa- 
chusetts, on  the  other  hand,  which  from  the  first 

89 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

inclined  to  the  practical  view — which  recognized  the 
dangers  surrounding  an  organization  weak  in  physical 
resources,  but  strong  in  spiritual  conviction,  and  which, 
by  reason  of  the  radical  nature  of  those  convictions, 
was  specially  liable  to  interference  from  the  settled 
power  of  orthodoxy — in  Massachusetts  there  was  a 
diplomatic  tendency  in  the  work  of  building  up  the 
commonwealth.  The  integrity  of  Williams's  logic  was 
conceded,  but  to  follow  it  out  to  its  legitimate  conclu- 
sions was  deemed  inconsistent  with  the  welfare  and 
continuance  of  the  popular  institutions.  The  condem- 
nation of  dissenters  from  dissent  sounded  unjust ;  but 
it  was  the  alternative  to  the  more  far-reaching  injus- 
tice of  suffering  the  structure  which  had  been  erected 
with  such  pains  and  sacrifice  to  fall  to  pieces  just  when 
it  was  attaining  form  and  character.  The  time  for  uni- 
versal toleration  might  come  later,  when  the  vigor  and 
solidity  of  the  nucleus  could  no  longer  be  vitiated  by 
fanciful  and  transient  vagaries.  The  right  of  private 
judgment  carried  no  guarantee  comparable  with  that 
which  attached  to  the  sober  and  tested  convictions  of 
the  harmonious  body  of  responsible  citizens. 

When,  therefore,  the  young  Henry  Vane,  coming  to 
Boston  with  the  prestige  of  aristocratic  birth  and  the 
reputation  of  liberal  opinions,  was  elected  Governor 
in  1635,  and  presently  laid  down  the  principle  that 
"Ishmael  shall  dwell  in  the  presence  of  his  brethren," 
he  at  once  met  with  opposition;  and  he  and  Anne 
Hutchinson,  and  other  visionaries  and  enthusiasts,  were 
made  to  feel  that  Boston  was  no  place  for  them.  Yet 
at  the  same  time  there  was  a  conflict  between  the  body 
of  the  freemen  and  the  magistrates  as  to  the  limits  and 
embodiments  of  the  governing  power;  the  magistrates 
contended  that  there  were  manifest  practical  advan- 
tages in  life  appointments  to  office,  and  in  the  undis- 
turbed domination  of  men  of  approved  good  life  and  in- 
tellectual ability ;  the  people  replied  that  all  that  might 
be  true,  but  they  would  still  insist  upon  electing  and 
dismissing  whom  they  pleased.  Thus  was  inadvertently 
demonstrated  the  invincible  security  of  democratic  prin- 
ciples; the  masses  are  alwavs  willing  to  agree  that  the 

90 


THE    SPIRIT   OF   THE   PURITANS 

best  shall  rule,  but  insist  that  they,  the  multitude,  and 
not  any  Star  Chamber,  no  matter  how  impeccable,  shall 
decide  who  the  best  are.  Herein  alone  is  safety.  The 
masses,  of  course,  are  not  actuated  by  motives  higher 
than  those  of  the  select  few;  but  their  impartiality  can- 
not but  be  greater,  because,  assuming  that  each  voter 
has  in  view  his  personal  welfare,  their  ballots  must 
insure  the  welfare  of  the  majority.  And  if  the  welfare 
of  the  majority  be  God's  will,  then  the  truth  of  the  old 
Latin  maxim,  vox  populi,  vox  Dei,  is  vindicated  with- 
out any  recourse  to  mysticism.  The  only  genuine  aris- 
tocracy, or  rule  by  the  best,  must  in  other  words  be 
the  creation,  not  of  their  own  will  and  judgment,  but 
of  those  of  the  subjects  of  their  administration. 

The  political  experiments  and  vicissitudes  of  these 
early  times  are  of  vastly  greater  historical  importance 
than  are  such  external  episodes,  as,  for  example,  the 
Pequot  war  in  1637.  A  whole  tribe  was  exterminated, 
and  thereby,  and  still  more  by  the  heroic  action  of 
Williams  in  preventing,  by  his  personal  intercession, 
an  alliance  between  the  Pequots  and  the  Narragansetts, 
the  white  colonies  were  preserved.  But  beyond  this 
the  affair  has  no  bearing  upon  the  development  of  the 
American  idea.  During  these  first  decades  the  most 
profound  questions  of  national  statesmanship  were  dis- 
cussed in  the  assemblies  of  the  Massachusetts  Puritans 
with  an  acumen  and  wisdom  which  have  never  been 
surpassed.  The  equity  and  solidity  of  most  of  their 
conclusions  are  extraordinary;  the  intellectual  ability 
of  the  councilors  being  purged  and  exalted  by  their 
ardent  religious  faith.  "The  Body  of  Liberties,"  writ- 
ten out  in  1641  by  Nathaniel  Ward,  handles  the  entire 
subject  of  popular  government  in  a  masterly  manner. 
It  was  a  counsel  of  perfection  molded,  by  understand- 
ing of  the  prevailing  conditions,  into  practical  form. 
The  basis  of  its  provisions  was  the  primitive  one  which 
is  traced  back  to  the  time  when  the  Anglo-Saxon  tribes 
met  to  choose  their  chiefs  or  to  decide  on  war  or  other 
matters  of  general  concern.  It  was  the  basis  suggested 
by  nature;  for,  as  the  chief  historian  of  these  times 
has  remarked,  freedom  is  spontaneous,  but  the  artificial 

91 


HISTORY   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES 

distinctions  of  rank  are  the  growth  of  centuries.  Lands, 
according  to  this  instrument,  were  free  and  alienable ; 
the  freemen  of  a  corporation  held  them,  but  claimed 
no  right  of  distribution.  There  should  be  no  monopo- 
lies; no  wife  beating;  no  slavery  "except  voluntary"; 
ministers  as  well  as  magistrates  should  be  chosen  by 
popular  vote.  Authority  was  given  to  approved  cus- 
toms; the  various  towns  or  settlements  constituting 
the  commonwealth  were  each  a  living  political  organ- 
ism. No  combination  of  churches  should  control  any 
one  church — such  were  some  of  the  provisions.  The 
colonies  were  availing  themselves  of  the  unique  oppor- 
tunity afforded  by  their  emancipation,  in  the  wilder- 
ness, from  the  tyranny  and  obstruction  of  old-world 
traditions  and  licensed  abuses. 

By  the  increasing  body  of  their  brethren  in  England, 
meanwhile,  New  England  was  looked  upon  as  a  sort 
of  New  Jerusalem,  and  letters  from  the  leaders  were 
passed  from  hand  to  hand  like  messages  from  saints. 
Up  to  the  time  when  Charles  and  Laud  were  checked 
by  Parliament,  the  tide  of  emigration  set  so  strongly 
toward  the  American  shores  that  measures  were  taken 
by  the  King  to  arrest  it;  by  1638  there  were  in  New 
England  more  than  twenty-one  thousand  colonists.  The 
rise  of  the  power  of  Parliament  stopped  the  influx ;  but 
the  succeeding  twenty  years  of  peace  gave  the  much- 
needed  chance  for  quiet  and  well-considered  growth 
and  development.  The  singular  prudence  and  foresight 
of  Winthrop  and  others  in  authority  during  this  inter- 
regnum was  showed  by  their  declining  to  accept  cer- 
tain apparent  advantages  proffered  them  in  love  and 
good  faith  by  their  English  friends.  A  new  patent  was 
offered  them  in  place  of  their  royal  charter;  but  the 
colonists  perceived  that  the  reign  of  Parliament  was 
destined  to  be  temporary,  and  wisely  refused.  Other 
suggestions,  likely  to  lead  to  future  entanglements, 
were  rejected;  among  them  a  proposition  from  Crom- 
well that  they  should  all  come  over  and  occupy  Ireland. 
This  is  as  curious  as  that  other  alleged  incident  of 
Cromwell  and  Hampden  having  been  stopped  by  Laud 
when  they  had  embarked  for  New  England,  and  being 

92 


THE    SPIRIT   OF   THE   PURITANS 

forced  to  remain  in  the  country  which  soon  after  owed 
to  them  its  freedom  from  kingly  and  episcopal  tyranny. 
Material  prosperity  began  to  show  itself  in  the  new 
country  now  that  the  first  metaphysical  problems  were 
in  the  way  of  settlement.  In  Salem  they  were  building 
ships,  cotton  was  manufactured  in  Boston ;  the  export 
trade  in  furs  and  other  commodities  was  brisk  and 
profitable.  The  English  Parliament  passed  a  law  ex- 
empting them  from  taxes.  After  so  much  adversity, 
fortune  was  sending  them  a  gleam  of  sunshine,  and  they 
were  making  their  hay.  But  something  of  the  arro- 
gance of  prosperity  must  also  be  accredited  to  them; 
the  Puritans  were  never  more  bigoted  and  intolerant 
than  now.  The  persecution  of  the  Quakers  is  a  blot 
on  their  fame,  only  surpassed  by  the  witchcraft  cruel- 
ties of  the  concluding  years  of  the  century.  Mary  Dyar 
and  the  men  Robinson,  Stephenson,  and  Leddra  were 
executed  for  no  greater  crime  than  obtruding  their  un- 
welcome opinions  and  outraging  the  propriety  of  the 
community.  The  fate  of  Christison  hung  for  a  while 
in  the  balance;  he  was  not  less  guilty  than  the  others, 
and  he  defied  his  judges ;  he  told  them  that  where  they 
murdered  one,  ten  others  would  arise  in  his  place ;  the 
same  words  that  had  been  heard  many  a  time  in  Eng- 
land when  the  Puritans  themselves  were  on  their  trial. 
Nevertheless  the  judges  passed  the  sentence  of  death; 
but  the  people  were  disturbed  by  such  bloody  proceed- 
ings, and  Christison  was  finally  set  free.  It  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  the  Quakers  of  this  period  were  very 
different  from  those  who  afterward  populated  the  City 
of  Brotherly  Love  under  Penn.  They  were  fanatics 
of  the  most  extravagant  and  incorrigible  sort;  loud- 
mouthed, frantic,  and  disorderly;  and  instead  of  ob- 
serving modesty  in  their  garb,  their  women  not  seldom 
ran  disheveled  through  the  streets  of  horrified  Boston 
in  broad  daylight.  They  thirsted  for  persecution  as 
ordinary  persons  do  for  wealth  or  fame,  and  would  not 
be  satisfied  till  they  had  provoked  punishment.  The 
granite  wall  of  Puritanism  seemed  to  exist  especially 
for  them  to  dash  themselves  against  it.  Such  persons 
can  hardly  be  deemed  sane ;  and  it  is  of  not  the  slightest 

93 


HISTOEY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

importance  what  particular  creed  they  profess.  They 
are  opposed  to  authority  and  order  because  they  are 
authority  and  order;  in  our  day  we  group  such  folk 
under  the  name  Anarchists;  but,  instead  of  hanging 
them  as  the  Puritans  did,  we  let  them  froth  and 
threaten,  according  to  the  policy  of  Roger  Williams, 
until  the  lack  of  echoes  leads  them  to  hold  their  peace. 

Although  slavery,  or  perpetual  servitude,  was  for- 
bidden by  the  statute,  there  were  many  slaves  in  New 
England,  Indians  and  whites  as  well  as  negroes.  The 
first  importation  of  the  latter  was  in  1619,  by  the 
Dutch,  it  is  said.  No  slave  could  be  kept  in  bondage 
more  than  ten  years ;  it  was  stipulated  that  they  were 
to  be  brought  from  Africa,  or  elsewhere,  only  with 
their  own  consent ;  and  when,  in  1638,  it  appeared  that 
a  cargo  of  them  had  been  forcibly  introduced,  they  were 
sent  back  to  Africa.  Prisoners  of  war  were  condemned 
to  servitude ;  and,  altogether,  the  feeling  on  the  subject 
of  human  bondage  appears  to  have  been  both  less  and 
more  fastidious  than  it  afterward  became.  There  was 
no  such  indifference  as  was  shown  in  the  Southern 
slave  trade  two  centuries  later,  nor  was  there  any  of 
the  humanitarian  fanaticism  exhibited  by  the  extreme 
Abolitionists  of  the  years  before  the  Civil  War.  It 
may  turn  out  that  the  attitude  of  the  Puritans  had 
more  common  sense  in  it  than  had  either  of  the  others. 

The  great  event  of  1643  was  the  natural  outcome  of 
the  growth  and  expansion  of  the  previous  time.  It  was 
the  federation  of  the  four  colonies  of  Massachusetts, 
Plymouth,  New  Haven,  arid  Connecticut.  Connecticut 
had  been  settled  in  1630,  but  it  was  not  till  six  years 
afterward  that  a  party  headed  by  the  renowned  Thomas 
Hooker,  the  "Son  of  Thunder,"  and  one  of  the  most 
judicious  men  of  that  age,  journeyed  from  Boston  with 
the  deliberate  purpose  of  creating  another  common- 
wealth in  the  desert.  Connecticut  did  not  offer  as- 
surances of  a  peaceful  settlement;  the  Indians  were 
numerous  there,  and  not  well  disposed;  and  in  the 
south  the  Dutch  of  New  Amsterdam  were  complain- 
ing of  an  infringement  of  boundaries.  These  ominous 
conditions  came  to  a  head  in  the  Pequot  war;  after 

94 


THE    SPIRIT   OF   THE    PURITANS 

which  peace  reigned  for  many  years.  A  constitu- 
tion of  the  most  liberal  kind  was  created  by  the  set- 
tlers, some  of  the  articles  of  which  led  to  a  corre- 
spondence between  Hooker  and  Winthrop  as  to  the 
comparative  merits  of  magisterial  and  popular  govern- 
ments. Unlearned  men,  however  religious,  if  elected  to 
office,  must  needs  call  in  the  assistance  of  the  learned 
ministers,  who,  thus  burdened  with  matters  not  rightly 
within  their  function,  might  err  in  counseling  thereon. 
Of  the  people  the  best  part  was  always  the  least,  and 
of  that  best  the  wiser  is  the  lesser.  This  was  Win- 
throp's  position.  Hooker  replied  that  to  allow  dis- 
cretion to  the  judge  was  the  way  to  tyranny.  Seek  the 
law  at  its  mouth;  it  is  free  from  passion,  and  should 
rule  the  rulers  themselves;  let  the  judge  do  according 
to  the  sentence  of  the  law.  In  high  matters,  business 
should  be  done  by  a  general  council,  chosen  by  all,  as 
\va*  the  practice  of  the  Jewish  and  other  well-ordered 
states.  This  is  an  example  of  the  political  discussions 
of  that  day  in  New  England;  both  parties  to  it  con- 
cerned solely  to  come  at  the  truth,  and  free  from  any 
selfish  aim  or  pride.  The  soundness  of  Hooker's  view 
may  be  deduced  from  the  fact  that  the  Constitution  of 
Connecticut  (which  differed  in  no  essential  respect 
from  those  of  the  other  colonies)  has  survived  almost 
unchanged  to  the  present  day.  Statesmanship,  during 
two  and  a  half  centuries,  has  multiplied  details  and 
improved  the  nicety  of  adjustments;  but  it  has  not  dis- 
cerned any  principles  which  had  not  been  seen  with 
perfect  distinctness  by  the  clear  and  venerable  eyes 
of  the  Puritan  fathers. 

Eaton,  another  man  of  similar  caliber,  was  the  lead- 
ing spirit  in  the  New  Haven  settlement,  assisted  by  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Davenport;  many  of  the  colonists  were 
Second  Adveutists,  and  they  called  the  Bible  their 
Statute  Book.  The  date  of  their  establishment  was 
1638.  The  incoherent  population  of  Rhode  Island 
caused  it  to  be  excluded  from  the  federation;  but 
Williams,  journeying  to  London,  obtained  a  patent 
from  the  exiled  but  now  powerful  Vane,  and  took  as 
the  motto  of  his  Government,  amor  vincet  omnia. 

95 


,  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

New  Hampshire,  which  had  been  united  to  Massa- 
chusetts in  1641,  could  have  no  separate  part  in  the 
new  arrangement ;  and  Maine,  an  indeterminate  region, 
sparsely  inhabited  by  people  who  had  come  to  seek  not 
God,  but  fish  in  the  western  world,  was  not  considered. 
The  articles  of  federation  of  the  four  Calvinist  colonies 
aimed  to  provide  mutual  protection  against  the  Indi- 
ans, against  possible  encroachment  from  England, 
against  Dutch  and  French  colonists :  they  declared  a 
league  not  only  for  defense  and  offense,  but  for  the 
promotion  of  spiritual  truth  and  liberty.  Nothing  was 
altered  in  the  constitutions  of  any  of  the  contracting 
parties;  and  an  equitable  system  of  apportioning  ex- 
penses was  devised.  Each  partner  sent  two  delegates 
to  the  common  council ;  all  affairs  proper  to  the  federa- 
tion were  determined  by  a  three-fourths  vote;  a  law 
for  the  delivery  of  fugitive  slaves  was  agreed  to;  and 
the  commissioners  of  the  other  jurisdictions  were  em- 
powered to  coerce  any  member  of  the  federation  which 
should  break  this  contract.  The  title  of  The  United 
Colonies  of  New  England  was  bestowed  upon  the  al- 
liance. The  articles  were  the  work  of  a  committee  of 
the  leading  men  in  the  country,  such  as  Winthrop, 
Winslow,  Haynes,  and  Eaton;  and  the  confederacy 
lasted  forty  years,  being  dissolved  in  1684. 

It  was  a  great  result  from  an  experiment  begun  only 
about  a  dozen  years  before.  It  was  greater  even  than 
its  outward  seeming,  for  it  contained  within  itself  the 
forces  which  should  control  the  future.  This  country 
is  made  up  of  many  elements,  and  has  been  molded  to 
no  small  extent  by  circumstances  hardly  to  be  fore- 
seen; but  it  seems  incontestable  that  it  would  never 
have  endured,  and  continued  to  be  the  goal  of  all  pil- 
grims who  wish  to  escape  from  a  restricted  to  a  freer 
life,  had  not  its  corner  stone  been  laid,  and  its  outline 
fixed,  by  these  first  colonists  of  New  England.  It  has 
been  calculated  that  in  two  hundred  years  the  physical 
increase  of  each  Puritan  family  was  one  thousand 
persons,  dispersed  over  the  territory  of  the  United 
States;  and  the  moral  influence  which  this  posterity 
exerted  on  the  various  communities  in  which  they  fixed 

96 


THE    SPIRIT   OF    THE    PURITANS 

their  abode  is  beyond  computation.  But  had  the  Puri- 
tan fathers  been  as  ordinary  men :  had  they  come  hither 
for  ends  of  gain  and  aggrandizement:  had  they  not 
been  united  by  the  most  inviolable  ties  that  can  bind 
men — community  in  religious  faith,  brotherhood  in  per- 
secution for  conscience'  sake,  and  an  intense,  inflexi- 
ble enthusiasm  for  liberty — their  descendants  would 
have  had  no  spiritual  inheritance  to  disseminate.  Many 
superficial  changes  have  come  upon  our  society;  there 
is  an  absence  of  a  fixed  national  type;  there  are  many 
thousands  of  illiterate  persons  among  us,  and  of  those 
who  are  still  ignorant  of  the  true  nature  of  democratic 
institutions;  all  the  tongues  of  Europe  and  of  other 
parts  of  the  world  may  be  heard  within  our  boundaries ; 
there  are  great  bodies  of  our  citizens  who  selfishly 
pursue  ends  of  private  enrichment  and  power,  indiffer- 
ent to  the  patent  fact  that  multitudes  of  their  fellows 
are  thereby  obstructed  in  the  effort  to  earn  a  livelihood 
in  this  most  productive  country  in  the  world;  there 
are  many  who  have  prostituted  the  name  of  statesman- 
ship to  the  gratification  of  petty  and  transient  am- 
bitions: and  many  more  who,  relieved  by  the  thrift  of 
their  ancestors  from  the  necessity  to  win  their  bread, 
have  renounced  all  concern  in  the  welfare  of  the  state, 
and  live  trivial  and  empty  lives:  all  this,  and  more, 
may  be  conceded.  But  such  evil  humors,  be  it  repeated, 
are  superficial,  attesting  the  vigor,  rather  than  the 
decay,  of  the  central  vitality.  America  still  stands  for 
an  idea ;  there  is  in  it  an  immortal  soul.  It  was  by  the 
Puritans  of  Massachusetts  Bay  that  this  soul  was  im- 
planted ;  to  inspire  it  was  their  work.  They  experienced 
the  realities,  they  touched  the  core  of  things,  as  few 
men  have  ever  done ;  for  they  were  born  in  an  age  when 
the  world  was  awakening  from  the  spiritual  slumber  of 
more  than  fifteen  hundred  years,  and  upon  its  be- 
wildered eyes  was  breaking  the  splendor  of  a  great  new 
light.  The  Puritans  were  the  immediate  heirs  of  the 
Reformation  (so  called;  it  might  more  truly  have  been 
named  the  New  Incarnation,  since  the  outward  modi- 
fications of  visible  form  were  but  the  symptoms  of  a 
freshly  communicated  informing  intelligence) .  It  trans- 
U.S.— 4  VOL.  I  97 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

figured  them ;  from  men  sunk  in  the  gross  and  seiisual 
thoughts  and  aims  of  an  irreligious  and  priest-ridden 
age — an  age  which  ate  and  drank  and  slept  and  fought, 
and  kissed  the  feet  of  popes,  and  maundered  of  the 
divine  right  of  kings — from  this  sluggish  degradation 
it  roused  and  transfigured  the  Englishmen  who  came 
to  be  known  as  Puritans.  It  was  a  transfiguration, 
though  its  subjects  were  the  uncouth,  almost  grotesque 
figures  which  chronicle  and  tradition  have  made  famil- 
iar to  us.  For  a  people  who  were  what  the  Puritans 
were  before  Puritanism,  cannot  be  changed  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  into  angels  of  light;  their  stubborn  carnality 
will  not  evaporate  like  a  mist;  it  clings  to  them,  and 
being  now  so  discordant  with  the  impulse  within,  an 
awkwardness  and  uncouthness  result  which  suggest 
some  strange  hybrid:  to  the  eye  and  ear  they  are  uii- 
lovelier  and  harsher  than  they  were  before  their  illumi- 
nation ;  but  Providence  regards  not  looks ;  it  knew  what 
it  was  about  when  it  chose  these  men  of  bone  and  sinew 
to  carry  out  its  purposes.  Once  enlisted,  they  never 
could  be  quelled,  or  seduced,  or  deceived,  or  wearied; 
they  were  in  fatal  earnest,  and  faithful  unto  death,  for 
they  believed  that  God  was  their  Captain.  They  had  got 
a  soul;  they  put  it  into  their  work,  and  it  is  in  that 
work  even  to  this  day. 

It  does  not  manifestly  appear  to  our  contemporary 
vision;  it  is  overloaded  with  the  rubbish  of  things,  as 
a  Greek  statue  is  covered  with  the  careless  debris  of 
ages ;  but,  as  the  art  of  the  sculptor  is  vindicated  when 
the  debris  has  been  removed,  so  will  the  fair  propor- 
tions of  the  State  conceived  by  the  Puritans,  and 
nourished  and  defended  by  their  sons,  declare  them- 
selves when  in  the  maturity  of  our  growth  we  have  as- 
similated what  is  good  in  our  accretions,  and  disen- 
cumbered ourselves  of  what  is  vain.  It  is  the  American 
principle,  and  it  will  not  down;  it  is  a  solvent  of  all 
foreign  substances;  in  its  own  way  and  time  it  dissi- 
pates all  things  that  are  not  harmonious  with  itself. 
No  lesser  or  :"eebler  principle  would  have  survived  the 
tests  to  which  this  has  been  subjected;  but  this  is  in- 
destructible ;  even  we  could  not  destroy  it  if  we  would, 

98 


THE    SPIRIT   OF   THE    PURITANS 

for  it  is  no  inalienable  possession  of  our  own,  but  a 
gift  from  on  High  to  the  whole  of  mankind.  But  let 
us  piously  and  proudly  remember  that  it  was  through 
the  Puritans  that  the  gift  was  made.  Other  nations 
than  the  English  have  contributed  to  our  substance 
and  prosperity,  and  have  yielded  their  best  blood  to 
flow  in  our  veins.  None  the  less  is  it  true  that  what  was 
worthiest  and  most  unselfish  in  the  impulse  that  drove 
them  hither  was  a  reflection  of  the  same  impulse  that 
actuated  the  Puritans  when  America  was  not  the  most 
powerful  of  republics,  but  a  wilderness.  None  of  us 
all  can  escape  from  their  greatness — from  the  debt  we 
owe  them:  not  because  they  were  Englishmen,  not  be- 
cause they  made  New  England,  but  because  they  were 
men,  inspired  of  God  to  make  the  earth  free  that  was 
in  bondage. 


99 


CHAPTER  IV 

FROM    HUDSON  TO   STUYVESANT 

THERE  are  two  scenes  in  the  career  of  Henry  Hud- 
son which  can  never  be  forgotten  by  Americans. 
One  is  in  the  first  week  in  September,  1609.  A 
little  vessel,  of  eighty  tons,  is  lying  on  the  smooth 
waters  of  a  large  harbor.  She  has  the  mounded  stern 
and  bluff  bows  of  the  ships  of  that  day;  one  of  her 
masts  has  evidently  been  lately  stepped;  the  North 
American  pine  of  which  it  is  made  shows  the  marks  of 
the  ship  carpenter's  ax,  and  the  whiteness  of  the  fresh 
wood.  The  square  sails  have  been  rent,  and  mended 
with  seams  and  patches;  the  side,s  and  bulwarks,  of 
the  vessel  have  been  buffeted  by  heavy  seas  off  the  New- 
foundland coast;  the  paint  and  varnish  which  shone 
on  them  as  she  dropped  down  the  reaches  of  the  Zuyder 
Zee  from  Amsterdam,  five  months  ago,  have  become 
whitened  with  salt  and  dulled  by  fog  and  sun  and  driv- 
ing spray.  Across  her  stern,  above  the  rudder  of  mas- 
sive oaken  plank  clamped  with  iron,  is  painted  the 
name  "HALF  MOON,"  in  straggling  letters.  On  her 
poop  stands  Henry  Hudson,  leaning  against  the  tiller ; 
beside  him  is  a  young  man,  his  son ;  along  the  bulwark 
lounge  the  crew,  half  Englishmen,  half  Dutch;  broad- 
beamed,  salted  tars,  with  pigtails  and  rugged  visages, 
who  are  at  home  in  Arctic  fields  and  in  equatorial 
suns,  and  who  now  stare  out  toward  the  low  shores 
to  the  north  and  west,  and  converse  among  themselves 
in  the  nameless  jargon — the  rude  compromise  between 
guttural  Dutch  and  husky  English — which  has  served 
them  as  a  medium  of  communication  during  the  long 
voyage.  It  is  a  good  harbor,  they  think,  and  a  likely 
country.  They  are  impatient  for  the  skipper  to  let 
them  go  ashore  and  find  out  what  grows  in  the  woods. 
Meanwhile  the  great  navigator,  supporting  himself, 

100 


FROM    HUDSON    TO    STUYVESANT 

with  folded  arms,  against  the  creaking  tiller,  absorbs 
the  scene  through  his  deep-set  eyes  in  silence.  Many 
a  haven  had  he  visited  in  his  time ;  he  had  been  within 
ten  degrees  of  the  North  Pole ;  he  had  seen  the  cliffs  of 
Spitzbergen  loom  through  the  fog,  and  had  heard  the 
sound  of  Greenland  glaciers  breaking  into  vast  icebergs 
where  they  overhung  the  sea;  he  had  lain  in  the 
thronged  ports  of  the  Netherlands,  where  the  masts 
cluster  like  naked  forests,  and  the  commerce  of  the 
world  seethes  and  murmurs  continually;  he  had 
dropped  anchor  in  quiet  English  harbors,  under  cool 
gray  skies,  with  undulating  English  hills  in  the  dis- 
tance, and  prosperous  wharfs  and  busy  streets  in  front. 
He  had  sweltered,  no  doubt,  beneath  the  heights  of 
Hongkong,  amid  a  city  of  swarming  junks;  and 
further  south  had  smelled  the  breeze  that  blows 
through  the  straits  of  the  Spice  Islands.  He  knew  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  as  a  farmer  knows  his  farm;  but 
never,  he  thought,  had  he  beheld  a  softer  and  more  in- 
viting prospect  than  this  which  spread  before  him 
now,  mellowed  by  the  haze  of  the  mild  September 
morning. 

On  all  sides  the  shores  were  wooded  to  the  water's 
edge :  a  giant  forest,  unbroken,  dense,  and  tall,  flourish- 
ing from  its  own  immemorial  decay,  matted  with  wild 
grapevine,  choked  with  brush,  wild  as  when  the  Cre- 
ator made  it;  untouched  since  then.  It  was  as  remote 
— as  lost  to  mankind — as  it  was  beautiful.  The  hum 
and  turmoil  of  the  civilized  world  was  like  the  mem- 
ory of  a  dream  in  this  tranquil  region,  where  untram- 
ineled  nature  had  worked  her  teeming  will  for  cen- 
turies upon  silent  centuries.  Here  were  such  peace 
and  stillness  that  the  cry  of  the  blue  jay  seemed  au- 
dacious ;  the  dive  of  a  gull  into  the  smooth  water  was 
a  startling  event.  To  the  imaginative  mind  of  Hudson 
this  spot  seemed  to  have  been  set  apart  by  Providence, 
hidden  away  behind  the  sandy  reaches  of  the  outer 
coast,  so  that  irreverent  man,  who  turns  all  things  to 
gain,  might  never  discover  and  profane  its  august  soli- 
tudes. Here  the  search  for  wealth  was  never  to  pene- 
trate ;  the  only  gold  was  in  the  tender  sunshine,  and  in 

101 


HISTOKY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  foliage  of  here  and  there  a  giant  tree,  which  the 
distant  approach  of  winter  was  lulling  into  golden 
slumber.  But  then,  with  a  sigh,  he  reflected  that  all 
the  earth  was  man's,  and  the  fullness  thereof ;  and  that 
here  too,  perhaps,  would  one  day  appear  clearings  in 
the  primeval  forest,  and  other  vessels  would  ride  at 
anchor,  and  huts  would  peep  out  from  beneath  the  over- 
shadowing foliage  on  the  shores.  But  it  was  hard  to 
conjure  up  such  a  picture;  it  was  difficult  to  imagine 
>so  untamed  a  wilderness  subdued,  in  ever  so  small  a 
degree,  by  the  hand  of  industry  and  commerce. 

Northwestward,  across  the  green  miles  of  whispering 
leaves,  the  land  appeared  to  rise  in  long,  level  bluffs, 
still  thronged  with  serried  trees;  a  great  arm  of  the 
sea,  a  mile  or  two  in  breadth,  extended  east  of  north, 
and  thither,  the  mariner  dreamed,  might  lie  the  long- 
sought  pathway  to  the  Indies.  A  tongue  of  land,  broad- 
ening as  it  receded,  and  swelling  in  low  undulations, 
divided  this  wide  strait  from  a  narrower  one  more  to 
the  east.  All  was  forest;  and  eastward  still  was  more 
forest,  stretching  seaward.  Southward  the  land  was 
low — almost  as  low  and  flat  as  the  Netherlands  them- 
selves ;  an  unexplored  immensity,  whose  fertile  soil  had 
for  countless  ages  been  hidden  from  the  sun  by  the 
impervious  shelter  of  interlacing  boughs.  No — never 
had  Hudson  seen  a  land  of  such  enduring  charm  and 
measureless  promise  as  this:  and  here,  in  this  citadel 
of  loneliness,  which  no  white  man's  foot  had  ever  trod, 
which,  till  then,  only  the  eyes  of  the  corsair  Verrazano 
had  seen,  near  a  century  before — here  was  to  arise,  like 
Aladdin's  Palace,  the  metropolis  of  the  western  world ; 
enormous,  roaring,  hurrying,  trafficking,  grasping, 
swarming  with  its  millions  upon  millions  of  striving, 
sleepless,  dauntless,  exulting,  despairing,  aspiring  hu- 
man souls;  the  home  of  unbridled  luxury,  of  abysmal 
poverty,  of  gigantic  industries,  of  insolent  idleness,  of 
genius,  of  learning,  of  happiness,  and  of  misery ;  of  far- 
reaching  enterprise,  of  political  glory  and  shame,  of 
science  and  art;  here  human  life  was  to  reach  its  in- 
tensest,  most  breathless,  relentless  and  insatiable  ex- 
pression; here  was  to  stand  a  city  whose  arms  should 

102 


reach  westward  over  a  continent,  and  eastward  round 
the  world ;  here  were  to  thunder  the  streets  and  tower 
the  buildings  and  reek  the  chimneys  and  arch  the 
bridges  and  rumble  the  railways  and  throb  the  elec- 
tric wires  of  American  New  York,  the  supreme  product 
of  Nineteenth  Century  civilization,  radiant  with  the 
virtues  and  grimy  with  the  failings  that  mankind  has 
up  to  this  time  developed. 

On  the  23d  of  June,  two  years  later,  Henry  Hudson 
was  the  central  figure  in  another  scene.  He  sat  in  a 
small,  open  boat,  hoary  with  frozen  spray;  he  was 
muffled  in  the  shaggy  hide  of  a  white  bear,  roughly 
fashioned  into  a  coat ;  a  sailor's  oilskin  hat  was  drawn 
down  over  his  brow,  and  beneath  its  rim  his  eyes  gazed 
sternly  out  over  a  wide  turbulence  of  gray  waters,  toss- 
ing with  masses  of  broken  ice.  His  dark  beard  was 
grizzled  with  frost;  his  cheeks  were  gaunt  with  the 
privations  of  a  long,  arctic  winter  spent  amid  endless 
snows,  in  darkness  unrelieved,  smitten  by  storms, 
struggling  with  savage  beasts  and  harried  by  more  in- 
human men.  He  sat  with  his  hand  at  the  helm; 
against  his  other  shoulder  leaned  his  son,  his  insepara- 
ble companion,  now  sinking  into  unconsciousness;  the 
six  rowers — the  stanch  comrades  who,  with  him,  had 
been  thrust  forth  to  perish  by  the  mutineers — plied 
their  work  heavily  and  hopelessly;  their  rigid  jaws 
were  set;  no  words  nor  complaints  broke  from  them, 
though  death  was  slowly  settling  round  their  valiant 
hearts.  Overhead  brooded  a  somber  vault  of  clouds; 
the  circle  of  the  horizon,  which  seemed  to  creep  in  upon 
them,  was  one  unbroken  sweep  of  icy  dreariness,  save 
where,  to  the  southeast,  the  dark  hull  of  the  Discovery, 
and  her  pallid  sails,  rocked  and  leaned  across  the  sul- 
len heave  of  the  waters.  She  was  bound  for  Europe; 
but  whither  is  Hudson  bound? 

His  end  befitted  his  life;  he  vanished  into  the  un- 
known as  he  had  come  from  it.  There  is  no  record  of 
the  time  or  place  of  his  birth,  or  of  his  early  career, 
nor  can  any  tell  where  lie  his  bones ;  we  only  know  that 
his  limbs  were  made  in  England,  and  that  the  great 
inland  sea,  called  after  him,  ebbs  and  flows  above  his 

103 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

grave.  He  first  comes  into  the  ken  of  history,  sailing 
on  the  seas,  resolute  to  discover  virgin  straits  and 
shores;  and  when  we  see  him  last,  he  is  still  toiling 
onward  over  the  waves,  peering  into  the  great  mystery. 
Possibly,  as  has  been  suggested,  he  may  have  been  the 
descendant  of  the  Hudson  who  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Muscovy  Company,  in  whose  service  the  famous 
navigator  afterward  voyaged  on  various  errands.  It 
matters  not;  he  lived,  and  did  his  work,  and  is  no 
more;  his  strong  heart  burned  within  him;  he  saw 
what  none  had  seen;  he  triumphed,  and  he  was  over- 
come. But  the  doubt  that  shrouds  his  end  has  given 
him  to  legend,  and  the  thunder  that  rolls  brokenly 
among  the  dark  crags  and  ravines  of  the  Catskills 
brings  his  name  to  the  hearer's  lips. 

The  Dutch  had  had  many  opportunities  offered  to 
them  to  discover  New  York  before  they  accepted  the 
services  of  Henry  Hudson,  who  was  willing  to  go  out 
of  his  own  country  to  find  backers,  so  only  that  he 
might  be  afloat.  Almost  every  year,  from  1581  onward, 
the  mariners  of  the  Netherlands  strove,  by  east  and  by 
west,  to  pass  the  barrrier  that  America  interposed  be- 
tween them  and  the  Eastern  trade  they  coveted.  The 
Dutch  East  India  Company  was  the  first  trading  cor- 
poration of  Europe;  and  after  the  war  with  Spain, 
during  the  twelve  years'  truce,  the  little  country  was 
overflowing  with  men  eager  to  undertake  any  enter- 
prise, and  with  money  to  fit  them  out.  The  Nether- 
lands suddenly  bloomed  out  the  most  prosperous  coun- 
try in  the  world. 

They  would  not  be  hurried;  they  took  their  time  to 
think  it  over,  as  Dutchmen  will;  but  at,  length  they 
conceived  an  immense  project  for  acquiring  all  the 
trade,  or  the  best  part  of  it,  of  both  the  West  and  the 
East.  They  studied  the  subject  with  the  patient  partic- 
ularity of  their  race ;  they  outclassed  Spain  on  the  seas, 
and  they  believed  they  could  starve  out  her  commerce. 
Some  there  were,  however,  who  feared  that  in  finding 
new  countries  they  would  lose  their  own ;  Europe  was 
again  in  a  turmoil,  and  they  were  again  fighting  Spain 
before  New  Amsterdam  was  founded.  But  meanwhile, 

104 


FROM    HUDSON    TO    STUYVESANT 

in  1609,  quite  inadvertently,  Henry  Hudson  discovered 
it  for  them  at  a  moment  when  they  supposed  him  to  be 
battling  with  freezing  billows  somewhere  north  of 
Siberia.  When  he  was  stopped  by  Nova  Zembla  ice,  he 
put  about  and  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  Nova  Scotia,  and 
so  down  the  coast,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  Chesapeake, 
the  Delaware,  and  finally  the  Hudson.  He  told  his  tale 
in  glowing  words  when  he  got  back;  but  the  Dutch 
merchants  perhaps  fancied  he  was  spinning  sailors' 
yarns,  and  heeded  not  his  report  till  long  after. 

Hudson,  after  passing  the  NarroWvS,  anchored  near 
the  Jersey  shore,  and  received  a  visit  from  some  Indi- 
ans with  native  commodities  to  exchange  for  knives  and 
beads.  They  presented  the  usual  Indian  aspect  as  re- 
garded dress  and  arms;  but  they  wore  ornaments  of 
red  copper  under  their  feather  mantles,  and  carried 
pipes  of  copper  and  clay.  They  were  affable,  but  un- 
trustworthy, stealing  what  they  could  lay  their  hands 
on,  and  a  few  days  later  shooting  arrows  at  a  boatload 
of  seamen  from  the  ship,  and  killing  one  John  Colman. 
Hudson  went  ashore,  and  was  honored  with  dances 
and  chants;  upon  the  whole,  the  impression  mutually 
created  seems  to  have  been  favorable.  An  abundance 
of  corn  and  oysters  was  supplied  to  the  crew;  and  no 
doubt  trade  was  carried  on  to  the  latter's  advantage ; 
we  know  that  years  afterward  the  whole  of  Manhattan 
Island  was  purchased  of  its  owners  for  four-and-tweuty 
dollars.  The  present  inhabitants  of  New  York  City 
could  not  be  so  easily  overreached. 

Hudson  now  began  the  first  trip  ever  made  by  white 
men  up  the  great  river.  How  many  millions  have  made 
it  since!  But  he,  at  this  gentlest  time  of  year,  won 
with  the  magic  not  only  of  what  he  saw,  but  of  the 
unknown  that  lay  before  him — what  must  have  been 
his  sensations !  As  reach  after  reach  of  the  incompara- 
ble panorama  spread  itself  out  quietly  before  him,  with 
its  beauty  of  color,  its  majesty  of  form,  its  broad  gleam 
of  placid  current,  the  sheer  lift  of  its  brown  cliffs,  its 
mighty  headlands  setting  their  titanic  shoulders  across 
his  path,  its  toppling  pinnacles  assuming  the  likeness 
of  giant  visages,  its  swampy  meadows  and  inlets,  lovely 

105 


HISTOEY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

with  flowers  and  waving  with  rushes,  its  royal  eagles 
stemming  the  pure  air  aloft,  its  fish  leaping  in  the 
ripples — and  then,  as  he  .sailed  on,  mute  with  enchant- 
ment, the  blue  magnificence  of  the  mountains  soaring 
heavenward  and  melting  into  the  clouds  that  hung 
about  their  summits — as  all  this  multifarious  beauty 
unfolded  itself,  Hudson  may  well  have  thought  that 
the  lost  Eden  of  the  earth  was  found  at  last.  And  ere 
long,  he  dreamed,  the  vast  walls  through  which  the 
river  moved  would  diverge  and  cease,  like  another 
Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  his  ship  would  emerge  into  an- 
other ocean.  It  was  verily  a  voyage  to  be  remembered ; 
and  perhaps  it  returned  in  a  vision  to  his  dimming 
eyes  that  day  he  steered  his  open  boat  through  the 
arctic  surges  of  Hudson  Bay. 

For  ten  days  or  more  he  pressed  onward  before  a 
southerly  breeze,  until,  in  the  neighborhood  of  what 
now  is  Albany,  it  became  evident  that  the  Pacific  was 
not  to  be  found  in  northern  New  York.  He  turned, 
therefore,  and  drifted  slowly  downward  with  the  steady 
current,  while  the  matchless  hues  of  the  American 
autumn  glowed  every  day  more  sumptuously  from  the 
far-billowing  woods.  What  sunrises  and  what  sunsets 
dyed  the  waters  with  liquid  splendor:  what  moons,  let 
us  hope,  turned  the  glories  of  day  into  the  spiritual 
mysteries  of  fairyland!  Hudson  was  not  born  for  re- 
pose ;  his  fate  was  to  sail  unrestingly  till  he  died ;  but 
as  he  passed  down  through  this  serene  carnival  of 
opulent  nature,  he  may  well  have  wished  that  here, 
after  all  voyages  were  done,  his  lot  might  finally  be 
cast;  he  may  well  have  wondered  whether  any  race 
would  be  born  so  great  and  noble  as  to  merit  the  gift 
of  such  a  river  and  such  a  land. 

He  landed  at  various  places  on  the  way,  and  was  al- 
ways civilly  and  hospitably  welcomed  by  the  red  men, 
who  brought  him  their  wild  abundance,  and  took  in 
return  what  he  chose  to  give.  The  marvelous  richness 
of  the  vegetation,  and  the  vegetable  decay  of  ages,  had 
rendered  the  margins  of  the  stream  as  deadly  as  they 
were  lovely;  fever  lurked  in  every  glade  and  bower, 
and  serpents  whose  bite  was  death  basked  in  the  sun 

106 


FROM    HUDSON   TO    BTUYVESANT 

or  crept  among  the  rocks.  All  was  as  it  had  always 
been ;  the  red  men,  living  in  the  midst  of  nature,  were 
a  part  of  nature  themselves;  nothing  was  changed  by 
their  presence;  they  altered  not  the  flutter  of  a  leaf 
or  the  posture  of  a  stone,  but  stole  in  and  out  noiseless 
and  lithe,  and  left  behind  them  no  trace  of  their  pas- 
sage. It  is  not  so  with  the  white  man :  before  him 
nature  flies  and  perishes;  he  clothes  the  earth  in  the 
thoughts  of  his  own  mind,  cast  in  forms  of  matter,  and 
contemplates  them  with  pride;  but  when  he  dies  an- 
other comes  and  refashions  the  materials  to  suit  him- 
self. So  one  follows  another,  and  nothing  endures  that 
man  has  made ;  for  this  is  his  destiny.  And  at  length, 
when  the  last  man  has  dressed  out  his  dolls  and  built 
his  little  edifice  of  stones  and  sticks,  and  is  gone: 
Nature,  who  was  not  dead,  but  sleeping,  awakes,  and 
resumes  her  ancient  throne,  and  her  eternal  works  de- 
clare themselves  once  more;  and  she  dissolves  the  bones 
in  the  grave,  and  the  grave  itself  vanishes,  with  its  rec- 
ord of  what  man  had  been.  What  says  our  poet? 

"How  am  I  theirs, 
When  they  hold  not  me, 
But  I  hold  them?" 

In  1613,  or  thereabout,  Christiansen  and  Block 
visited  the  harbor  and  got  furs,  and  also  a  couple  of 
Indian  boys  to  show  the  burghers  of  Amsterdam,  since 
they  could  not  fetch  the  great  river  to  Holland.  In 
1614  they  went  again  with  five  ships — the  Fortune 
of  Amsterdam,  the  Fortune  of  Room,  and  the  Tiger 
of  Amsterdam  (which  was  burned),  and  two  others. 
Block  built  himself  a  boat  of  sixteen  tons,  and  ex- 
plored the  Sound,  and  the  New  England  coast  as  far 
as  Massachusetts  Bay ;  touched  at  the  island  known  by 
his  name,  and  forgathered  with  the  Indian  tribes  all 
along  his  route.  The  explorers  were  granted  a  charter 
in  the  same  year,  giving  them  a  three  years'  monopoly 
of  the  trade,  and  in  this  charter  the  title  New  Nether- 
land  is  bestowed  upon  the  region.  The  Dutch  were  at 
last  bestirring  themselves.  Two  years  after,  Schouten 
of  Hoorn  saw  the  southernmost  point  of  Tierra  del 

107 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Fuego,  and  gave  it  the  name  of  his  home  port  as  h« 
swept  by;  and  three  other  Netherlander  penetrated 
to  the  wilds  of  Philadelphia  that  was  to  be.  A  forti- 
fied trading  post  was  built  at  Albany,  where  now 
legislation  instead  of  peltries  is  the  subject  of  barter. 
At  this  juncture  internal  quarrels  in  the  Dutch  Gov- 
ernment led  to  tragic  events,  which  stimulated  plans 
of  western  colonization,  and  the  desire  to  start  a  com- 
monwealth on  Hudson  River  to  forestall  the  English 
— for  the  latter  as  well  as  the  Dutch  and  Spanish 
claimed  everything  in  sight.  The  Dutch  East  India 
Company  began  business  in  1621  with  a  twenty-four 
year  charter,  renewable.  It  was  given  power  to  create 
an  independent  nation ;  the  world  was  invited  to  buy  its 
stock,  and  the  States-General  invested  a  million 
guilders  in  it.  Its  field  was  the  entire  west  coast  of 
Africa,  and  the  east  coast  of  North  and  South  America. 
Such  schemes  are  of  planetary  magnificence ;  but  of  all 
this  realm  the  Dutch  now  hold  the  little  garden  patch 
of  Dutch  Guiana  only,  and  the  pleasant  records  of 
their  sojourn  on  Manhattan  Island  between  the  years 
1623  and  1664. 

Indeed,  the  Dutch  episode  in  our  history  is  in  all  re- 
spects refreshing  and  agreeable;  the  burghers  set  us 
an  example  of  thrift  and  steadiness  too  good  for  us  to 
follow  it;  and  they  deeded  to  us  some  of  our  best  citi- 
zens and  most  engaging  architectural  traditions.  But 
it  is  not  after  all  for  these  and  other  material  benefits 
that  we  are  indebted  to  them;  we  thank  them  still 
more  for  being  what  they  were  (and  could  not  help 
being)  :  for  their  character,  their  temperament,  their 
costume,  their  habits,  their  breadth  of  beam,  their 
length  of  pipes,  the  deliberation  of  their  courtships, 
the  hardness  of  their  bargains,  the  portentousness  of 
their  tea  parties,  the  industrious  decorum  of  their 
women,  the  dignity  of  their  Patroons,  the  strictness  of 
their  social  conduct,  the  soundness  of  their  education, 
the  stoutness  of  their  independence,  the  excellence  of 
their  good  sense,  the  simplicity  of  their  prudence,  and 
above  all,  for  the  wooden  leg  of  Peter  Stuyvesant.  In 
a  word,  the  humorous  perception  of  the  American 

108 


FKOM    HUDSON    TO    STUYVESANT 

people  has  made  a  pet  of  the  Dutch  tradition  in  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania;  as,  likewise,  of  the  childlike 
comicalities  of  the  plantation  negro;  the  archwag- 
gishness  of  the  Irish  emigrants,  and  the  cherubic 
shrewdness  of  the  newly  acquired  German.  The  Dutch 
gained  much,  on  the  sentimental  score,  by  transplanta- 
tion; their  old-world  flavor  and  rich  coloring  are  ad- 
mirably relieved  against  the  background  of  unbaked 
wilderness.  We  could  not  like  them  so  much  or  laugh 
at  them  at  all,  did  we  not  so  thoroughly  respect  them ; 
the  men  of  New  Amsterdam  were  worthy  of  their  na- 
tional history,  which  recounts  as  stirring  a  struggle 
as  was  ever  made  by  the  love  of  liberty  against  the 
foul  lust  of  oppression.  The  Dutch  are  not  funny  any- 
where but  in  Seventeenth  Century  Manhattan ;  nor  can 
this  singularity  be  explained  by  saying  that  Washing- 
ton Irving  made  them  so.  It  inheres  in  the  situation ; 
and  the  delightful  chronicles  of  Diedrich  Knickerbocker 
owe  half  their  enduring  fascination  to  their  sterling 
veracity — the  veracity  which  is  faithful  to  the  spirit 
and  gambols  only  with  the  letter.  The  humor  of  that 
work  lies  in  its  sympathetic  and  creative  insight  quite 
as  much  as  in  the  broad  good  humor  and  imaginative 
whimsicality  with  which  the  author  handles  his  theme. 
The  caricature  of  a  true  artist  gives  a  better  likeness 
than  any  photograph. 

The  first  ship  containing  families  of  colonists  went 
out  early  in  1623,  under  the  command  of  Cornelis  May; 
he  broke  ground  on  Manhattan,  while  Joris  built  Fort 
Orange  at  Albany,  and  a  little  group  of  settlers 
squatted  round  it.  May  acted  as  director  for  the  first 
year  or  two ;  the  trade  in  furs  was  prosecuted,  and  the 
first  Dutch-American  baby  was  born  at  Fort  Orange. 

Fortune  was  kind.  King  Charles,  instead  of  dis- 
cussing prior  rights,  offered  an  alliance;  at  home  the 
bickerings  of  sects  were  healed.  Peter  Minuit  came 
out  as  director  general  and  paid  his  twenty-four  dol- 
lars for  the  island — a  little  less  than  a  thousand  acres 
for  a  dollar.  At  all  events,  the  Indians  seemed  satis- 
fied from  Albany  to  the  Narrows.  The  battery  was  de- 
signed, and  there  was  quite  a  cluster  of  houses  on  the 

109 


HISTOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

clearing  back  of  it.  An  atmosphere  of  Dutch  homeli- 
ness began  to  temper  the  thin  American  air.  The 
honest  citizens  were  pious,  and  had  texts  read  to  them 
on  Sundays ;  but  they  did  not  torture  their  consciences 
with  spiritual  self-questionings  like  the  English  Puri- 
tans, nor  dream  of  disciplining  or  banishing  any  of 
their  number  for  the  better  heavenly  security  of  the 
rest.  The  souls  of  these  Netherlander  fitted  their 
bodies  far  better  than  was  the  case  with  the  colonists 
of  Boston  and  Salem.  Instead  of  starving  and  rend- 
ing them,  their  religion  made  them  happy  and  comfort- 
able. Instead  of  settling  the  ultimate  principles  of 
theology  and  government,  they  enjoyed  the  conscious- 
ness of  mutual  good  will,  and  took  things  as  they  came. 
The  new  world  needed  men  of  both  kinds.  It  must, 
however,  be  admitted  that  the  people  of  New  Amster- 
dam were  not  wholly  harmonious  with  those  of  Ply- 
mouth. Minuit  and  Bradford  had  some  correspondence, 
in  which,  while  professions  of  mutual  esteem  and  love 
were  exchanged,  uneasy  things  were  let  fall  about  clear 
titles  and  prior  rights.  Minuit  was  resolute  for  his 
side,  and  the  attitude  of  Bradford  prompted  him  to 
send  for  a  company  of  soldiers  from  home.  But  there 
was  probably  no  serious  anticipation  of  coming  to 
blows  on  either  part.  There  was  space  enough  in  the 
continent  for  the  two  hundred  and  seventy  inhabitants 
of  New  Amsterdam  and  for  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  for 
the  present. 

Spain  was  an  unwilling  contributor  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  Dutch  colonists  by  the  large  profits  which  the 
latter  gained  from  the  capture  of  Spanish  galleons; 
but  in  1629  the  charter  creating  the  Order  of  Patroons 
laid  the  foundation  for  abuses  and  discontent  which 
afflicted  the  settlers  for  full  thirty  years.  Upon  the 
face  of  it,  the  charter  was  liberal,  and  promised  good 
results ;  but  it  made  the  mistake  of  not  securing  popu- 
lar liberties.  The  Netherlands  were  no  doubt  a  free 
country,  as  freedom  was  at  that  day  understood  in 
Europe ;  but  this  freedom  did  not  involve  independence 
for  the  individual.  The  only  recognized  individuality 
was  that  of  the  municipalities,  the  rulers  of  which  were 

110 


FROM    HUDSON    TO    STUYVESANT 

not  chosen  by  popular  franchise.  This  system  answered 
well  enough  in  the  old  home,  but  proved  unsuited  to 
the  conditions  of  settlers  in  the  wilderness.  The  Ameri- 
can spirit  seemed  to  lurk  like  some  subtle  contagion 
in  the  remotest  recesses  of  the  forest,  and  those  who 
went  to  live  there  became  affected  with  it.  It  was 
longer  in  successfully  vindicating  itself  than  in 
Now  England,  because  it  was  noi;  stimulated  on  the 
banks  of  the  Hudson  by  the  New  England  religious 
fervor;  it  was  supported  on  grounds  of  practical 
expediency  merely.  Men  could  not  prosper  unless 
they  received  the  rewards  of  industry,  and  were  per- 
mitted to  order  their  private  affairs  in  a  manner  to 
make  their  labor  pay.  They  were  not  content  to  have 
the  Patroon  devour  their  profits,  leaving  them  enough 
only  for  a  bare  subsistence.  The  Dutch  families  scat- 
tered throughout  the  domain  could  not  get  ahead,  while 
yet  they  could  not  help  feeling  that  the  bounty  of  na- 
ture ought  to  benefit  those  whose  toil  made  it  available, 
at  least  as  much  as  it  did  those  who  toiled  not,  but 
simply  owned  the  land  in  virtue  of  some  documentary 
transaction  with  the  powers  above,  and  therefore 
claimed  ownership  also  over  the  poor  emigrant  who 
settled  on  it — having  nowhere  else  to  go.  The  emi- 
grants were  probably  helped  to  comprehend  and  formu- 
late their  own  misfortunes  by  communications  with 
stragglers  from  New  England,  who  regaled  them  with 
tales  of  such  liberties  as  they  had  never  before 
imagined.  But  the  seed  thus  sown  by  the  Englishmen 
fell  on  fruitful  soil,  and  the  crop  was  reaped  in  due 
season. 

The  charter  intended,  primarily,  the  encouragement 
of  emigration,  and  did  not  realize  that  it  needed  very 
little  encouragement.  The  advantages  offered  were 
more  alluring  than  they  need  have  been.  Any  person 
who,  within  four  years,  could  establish  a  colony  of 
fifty  persons  was  given  privileges  only  comparable  to 
those  of  independent  princes.  They  were  allowed  to 
take  up  tracts  of  land  many  square  miles  in  area, 
to  govern  them  absolutely  (according  to  the  laws  of 
the  realm),  to  found  and  administer  cities,  and  in  a 

111 


HTSTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

word  to  drink  from  Baucis's  pitcher  to  their  hearts' 
content.  In  return,  the  home  administration  expected 
the  benefit  of  their  trade.  Two  stipulations  only  re- 
strained them:  they  were  to  buy  titles  to  their  land 
from  the  Indians,  and  they  were  to  permit,  on  penalty 
of  removal,  no  cotton  or  woolen  manufactures  in  the 
country.  That  was  a  monopoly  which  was  reserved  to 
the  weavers  in  the  old  country. 

This  was  excellent  for  such  as  could  afford  to  be- 
come Patroons;  but  what  about  the  others?  The  char- 
ter provided  that  any  emigrant  who  could  pay  for  his 
exportation  might  take  up  what  land  he  required  for 
his  needs,  and  cultivate  it  independently.  Other  emi- 
grants, unable  to  pay  their  fare  out,  might  have  it  paid 
for  them ;  but  in  that  case,  of  course,  incurred  a  mort- 
gage to  their  benefactors.  In  effect,  they  could  not 
own  the  product  of  the  work  of  their  hands  until  it 
had  paid  their  sponsors  for  their  outlay,  together  with 
such  additions  in  the  way  of  interest  on  capital  as 
might  seem  to  the  sponsors  equitable. 

The  company  further  undertook  to  supply  slaves  to 
the  colony,  should  they  prove  to  be  a  paying  invest- 
ment; and  it  was  chiefly  because  the  climate  of  New 
York  was  less  favorable  to  the  Guinea  coast  negro 
than  was  that  further  south  that  African  slavery  did 
not  take  early  and  firm  root  in  the  former  region. 
Philosophers  have  long  recognized  the  influence  of  de- 
grees of  latitude  upon  human  morality.  The  Patroon 
planters  could  dispense  with  black  slaves,  since  they 
had  white  men  enough  who  cost  them  no  more  than 
their  keep,  and  would,  presumably,  not  involve  the 
expense  of  overseers.  Everything,  therefore,  seemed 
harmonious  and  sunshiny,  and  the  company  congratu- 
lated itself. 

But  the  Patroons,  through  their  agents,  began  buying 
up  all  the  land  that  was  worth  having,  and  found  it 
easy  to  evade  the  stipulation  restricting  them  to  six- 
teen miles  apiece.  One  of  them  had  an  estate  running 
twenty-four  miles  on  either  bank  of  the  Hudson,  below 
Albany  (or  Fort  Orange  as  it  was  then),  and  forty- 
eight  miles  inland.  It  was  superb;  but  it  was  as  far 

112 


FROM    HUDSON    TO    STUYVESANT 

as  possible  from  being  democracy ;  and  the  portly  Van 
Rensselaer  of  Rennselaerwyck  would  have  shuddered 
to  his  marrow  could  he  have  cast  a  prophetic -eye  into 
the  Nineteenth  Century. 

The  company  at  home  presently  discovered  that  its 
incautious  liberality  had  injured  its  own  interests  as 
well  as  those  of  poor  settlers;  for  the  estates  of  the 
Patroons  covered  the  trading  posts  where  the  Indians 
came  to  traffic,  and  all  the  profits  from  the  latter 
swelled  the  pockets  of  the  Patroons.  But  the  charter 
could  not  be  withdrawn ;  the  directors  must  be  content 
with  whatever  sympathetic  benefits  might  be  conferred 
by  the  increasing  wealth  of  the  colony.  The  Patroons 
were  becoming  more  powerful  than  their  creators,  and 
took  things  more  and  more  into  their  own  lordly  hands. 
Neither  Patroons  nor  company  concerned  themselves 
about  the  people.  The  charter  had,  indeed,  mentioned 
the  subjects  of  schools  and  religious  instructors  for  the 
emigrants,  but  had  made  no  provisions  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  such;  and  the  Patroons  conceived  that  such 
luxuries  were  deserving  of  but  the  slightest  encourage- 
ment. The  more  a  poor  man  knows  the  less  contented 
is  he.  Such  was  the  argument  then,  and  it  is  occasion- 
ally heard  to-day  when  our  trusts  and  corporations  are 
annoyed  by  the  complaints  and  disaffections  of  their 
only  half-ignorant  employees. 

Governor  Minuit  was  not  held  to  be  the  best  man  in 
the  world  for  his  position,  and  he  was  recalled  in  1632, 
and  Wouter  Van  Twiller,  who  possessed  all  of  his 
predecessor's  faults  and  none  of  his  virtues,  took  his 
place.  A  governor  with  the  American  idea  in  him 
would  have  saved  Manhattan  a  great  deal  of  trouble, 
and  perhaps  have  enabled  the  Dutch  to  keep  their  hold 
upon  it ;  but  no  such  governor  was  available,  and  worse 
than  Van  Twiller  was  yet  to  come.  A  colony  had 
already  been  planted  in  Delaware,  but  unjust  dealings 
with  the  Indians  led  to  a  massacre  which  left  nothing 
of  the  Cape  Henlopen  settlement  but  bones  and  charred 
timbers.  The  English  to  the  south  were  led  to  renew 
the  assertion  of  their  never-abandoned  claim  to  the 
region;  there  were  encroachments  by  the  English  set- 

113 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

tiers  on  the  Connecticut  boundary,  and  the  '  Dutch, 
deprived  by  the  wars  in  Europe  of  the  support  of  their 
countrymen  at  home,  were  too  feeble  to  do  more  than 
protest.  But  protests  from  those  unable  to  enforce 
them  have  never  been  listened  to  with  favor — not  even 
by  the  English.  Besides  the  Dutch,  though  amenable 
to  religious  observances,  were  far  from  making  them 
the  soul  and  end  of  all  thought  and  action;  and  this 
lack  of  aggressive  religious  fiber  put  them  at  a  decided 
political  disadvantage  with  their  rivals.  Man  for  man 
they  were  the  equals  of  the  English,  or  of  any  other 
people;  as  they  magnificently  demonstrated,  forty  years 
afterward,  by  defeating  allied  and  evil-minded  Europe 
in  its  attempt  to  expunge  them  as  a  nation.  But  the 
indomitable  spirit  of  Van  Tromp  and  De  Ruyter  was 
never  awakened  in  the  New  Netherlands;  commercial 
considerations  were  paramount ;  and  though  the  Dutch 
settlers  remained,  and  were  always  welcome,  the  colony 
finally  passed  from  the  jurisdiction  of  their  own  Gov- 
ernment with  their  own  expressed  consent. 

Van  Twiller  vanished  after  eight  years'  mismanage- 
ment, and  the  sanguinary  Kieft  took  the  reins.  But 
before  his  incumbency,  Sweden,  at  the  instance  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  by  the  agency  of  his  Chan- 
cellor Oxenstiern,  both  men  of  the  first  class,  lodged 
a  colony  on  Delaware  Bay,  which  subsisted  for  seven- 
teen years,  and  was  absorbed  at  last  without  one  stain 
upon  its  fair  record.  Minuit,  being  out  of  a  job,  offered 
his  experienced  services  in  bringing  the  emigrating 
Swedes  and  Finns  to  their  new  abode,  and  they  began 
their  sojourn  in  1638.  They  were  industrious,  peace- 
able, religious,  and  moral,  and  they  declared  against 
any  form  of  slavery.  They  threw  out  a  branch  toward 
Philadelphia.  But  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  died  at 
Liitzen  before  the  Swedes  came  over,  and  Queen  Chris- 
tina had  not  the  ability  to  carry  out  his  ideas,  even  had 
she  possessed  the  power.  The  Dutch  began  to  dispute 
the  rights  of  the  Scandinavians;  Rysingh  took  their 
fort  Casimir  in  1654,  and  Peter  Stuyvesant  with  six 
hundred  men  received  their  submission  in  the  same 
year.  But  this  success  was  of  no  benefit  to  the  Dutch ; 

114 


FROM    HUDSON    TO    STFYVESANT 

the  tyrannous  monopolies  which  the  company  tried  to 
establish  in  Delaware,  instead  of  creating  revenues, 
caused  the  country  to  be  deserted  by  the  settlers,  who 
betook  themselves  to  the  less  oppressive  English  admin- 
istrations to  the  southward;  and  it  was  not  until  the 
English  took  possession  of  both  Delaware  and  the  rest 
of  the  New  Netherlands  that  it  began  to  yield  a  fair 
return  on  the  investment. 

But  we  must  return  to  the  ill-omened  Kieft.  It  was 
upon  the  Indian  question  that  he  made  shipwreck,  not 
only  incurring  their  deadly  enmity,  but  alienating  from 
himself  the  sympathies  and  support  of  his  own  coun- 
trymen. The  Algonquin  tribe,  which  inhabited  the 
surrounding  country,  had  been  constantly  overreached 
in  their  trade  with  the  Dutchmen ;  the  principle  upon 
which  barter  was  carried  on  with  the  untutored  sav- 
age being:  "I'll  take  the  turkey  and  you  keep  the  buz- 
zard ;  or  you  take  the  buzzard  and  I'll  keep  the  turkey." 
This  sounded  fair;  but  when  the^Indian  came  to  exam- 
ine his  assets,  it  always  appeared  that  a  buzzard  was 
all  he  could  make  of  it.  Partly,  perhaps,  by  way  of 
softening  the  asperities  of  such  a  discovery,  the  Dutch 
merchant  had  been  wont  to  furnish  his  victim  with 
brandy  (not  eleemosynary,  of  course) ;  but  the  results 
were  disastrous.  The  Indians,  transported  by  the  alco- 
hol beyond  the  anything-but-restricted  bounds  which 
nature  had  imposed  upon  them,  felt  the  insult  of  tho 
buzzard  more  keenly  than  ever,  and  signified  their  re 
sentment  in  ways  consistent  with  their  instincts  and 
traditions.  In  1640  an  army  of  them  fell  upon  the 
colony  in  Staten  Island,  and  slaughtered  them,  man, 
woman,  and  child,  with  the  familiar  Indian  accessories 
of  tomahawk,  scalping  knife,  and  torch.  The  Staten 
Islanders,  it  should  be  stated,  had  done  nothing  to  merit 
this  treatment;  but  Indian  logic  interprets  the  legal 
maxim,  Qui  facit  per  alium,  facit  per  se,  as  mean- 
ing that  if  one  white  man  cheats  him  he  can  get  his 
satisfaction  out  of  the  next  one  who  happens  in  sight. 
Stateii  Island  was  a  definite  and  convenient  area,  and 
when  its  population  had  been  exterminated,  the  In- 
dians could  feel  relieved  from  their  obligation.  Not 

115 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

long  afterward  an  incident  such  as  romancers  love  to 
feign  actually  took  place;  an  Indian  brave  who,  as 
a  child  years  before,  had  seen  his  uncle  robbed  and 
slain,  had  vowed  revenge,  now  having  become  of  age, 
or  otherwise  qualified  himself  for  the  enterprise,  went 
upon  the  warpath  and  returned  with  the  long-coveted 
scalp  at  his  girdle.  Evidently  the  time  had  come  for 
Governor  Kieft  to  assert  himself. 

It  was  of  small  avail  to  invade  the  wilds  of  New 
Jersey,  or  to  offer  rewards  for  Karitans,  dead  or  alive. 
The  sachems  were  willing  to  express  their  regret,  but 
they  would  not  surrender  the  culprits,  and  declared 
that  the  Dutchmen's  own  brandy  was  the  really  guilty 
party.  Kieft  would  not  concede  the  point,  and  the 
situation  was  strained.  At  this  juncture  the  unex- 
pected happened.  The  Mohawks,  a  kingly  tribe  of  red  men, 
who  claimed  all  northeastern  America  from  the  St. 
Lawrence  to  the  Delaware,  and  who  had  already  driven 
the  Algonquins  before  them  life  chaff,  sent  down  a  war 
party  from  northern  New  York  and  demanded  tribute 
from  them.  There  were  more  Algonquins  than  there 
were  Mohawks;  but  one  eagle  counts  for  more  than 
many  kites.  The  kites  came  fluttering  to  Fort  Orange 
for  protection :  not  so  much  that  they  feared  death  or 
torture,  but  they  were  overawed  by  the  spirit  of  the 
Mohawk,  and  could  not  endure  to  face  him.  Kieft 
fancied  that  he  saw  his  opportunity.  He  would  teach 
the  red  scoundrels  a  lesson  they  would  remember. 
There  was  a  company  of  soldiers  in  the  fort,  and  in 
the  river  were  moored  some  vessels  with  crews  of 
Dutch  privateers  on  board.  Kieft  made  up  his  party, 
and  when  night  had  fallen  he  sent  them  on  their  bloody 
errand,  guided  by  one  who  knew  all  the  camps  and 
hiding  places  of  the  doomed  tribe.  It  was  a  revolting 
episode;  a  hundred  Indians  were  unresistingly  mur- 
dered. They  would  have  made  a  stronger  defense  had 
they  not  been  under  the  impression  that  it  was  the 
Mohawks  who  were  upon  them;  and  to  be  killed  by 
a  Mohawk  was  no  more  than  an  Algonquin  should 
expect.  But  when  it  transpired  that  the  Dutch  were 
the  perpetrators,  the  whole  nation  gave  way  to  a  double 

116 


FROM    HUDSON    TO    STUYVESANT 

exasperation :  first,  that  their  friends  had  been  killed, 
and,  secondly,  that  they  had  suffered  under  a  misappre- 
hension. The  settlers,  in  disregard-  of  advice,  were  liv- 
ing in  scattered  situations  over  a  large  territory,  and 
they  were  all  in  danger  and  defenseless,  even  if  New 
Amsterdam  itself  could  escape.  Kieft  was  heartily 
cursed  by  all  impartially;  he  was  compelled  to  make 
overtures  for  peace,  and  a  powwow  was  held  in  Rock- 
away  woods  in  the  spring  of  1643.  Terms  were  agreed 
upon,  and,  according  to  Indian  usage,  gifts  were  ex- 
changed. But  those  of  the  chiefs  so  far  exceeded  in 
value  the  offerings  of  Kieft  that  these  were  regarded 
as  a  fresh  insult ;  war  was  declared,  and  dragged  along 
for  two  years  more.  It  was  not  until  1645  that  the 
grand  meeting  of  the  settlers  and  the  Five  Nations 
took  place  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  and  the  treaty  of  last- 
ing peace  was  ratified.  Kieft  sailed  from  New  Amster- 
dam with  the  consciousness  of  having  injured  his  coun- 
trymen more  than  had  any  enemy ;  but  he  was  drowned 
off  the  Welsh  coast  without  having  brought  forth  fruits 
meet  for  repentance. 

Peter  Stuyvesant  is  a  favorite  character  in  our  his- 
tory because  he  was  a  manly  and  straightforward  man, 
faithful  to  his  employers,  fearless  in  doing  and  saying 
what  he  thought  was  right,  and  endowed  with  a  full 
share  of  obstinate,  homely,  kindly  human  nature.  He 
was  not  in  advance  of  his  age  or  superior  to  his  train- 
ing; he  was  the  plain  product  of  both,  but  free  from 
selfishness,  malice,  and  unworthy  ambitions.  He  was 
born  in  1602,  and  came  to  America  a  warrior  from 
honorable  wars,  seamed  and  knotty,  with  a  famous 
wooden  leg  which  all  New  Yorkers,  at  any  rate,  love 
to  hear  stumping  down  the  corridors  of  time.  His 
administration,  the  last  of  the  Dutch  regime,  wiped 
out  the  stains  inflicted  by  his  predecessors,  and  resisted 
with  equal  energy  encroachments  from  abroad  and  in- 
novations at  home.  He  was  a  true  Dutchman,  with 
most  of  the  limitations  and  all  the  virtues  of  his  race ; 
fond  of  peace  and  of  dwelling  in  his  own  "Bowery,"  yet 
not  afraid  to  fight  when  he  deemed  that  his  duty.  His 
tenure  of  office  lasted  from  1647  till  1664,  a  period  of 

117 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

seventeen  active  years;  after  the  English  took  posses- 
sion of  the  town  and  called  it  New  York,  Peter  went 
back  to  Holland,  unwilling  to  live  in  the  presence  of 
new  things ;  but  he  found  that,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three, 
he  could  not  be  happy  away  from  the  home  that  he  had 
made  for  himself  in  the  new  world ;  so  he  returned  to 
Manhattan  Island,  and  completed  the  tale  of  his  eighty 
years  on  the  farm  which  is  now  the  most  populous  and 
democratic  of  New  York's  thoroughfares.  There  he 
smoked  his  long-stemmed  pipe  and  drank  his  schnapps, 
and  thought  over  old  times  and  criticized  the  new. 
After  two  and  a  half  centuries  the  memory  of  him  is 
undimmed;  and  it  is  to  be  wished  that  some  fitting 
memorial  of  him  may  be  erected  in  the  city  which  his 
presence  honored. 

The  very  next  year  after  his  arrival  free  trade  was 
established  in  New  Amsterdam.  There  had  been  a  strict 
monopoly  till  then;  but  in  one  way  or  anothef  it  was 
continually  evaded,  and  the  New  Amsterdam  merchants 
found  themselves  so  much  handicapped  by  the  restric- 
tions that  their  inability  reacted  upon  the  managers  at 
home.  There  were  not  at  that  time  any  infant  indus- 
tries in  need  of  protection,  and  the  colony  was  large 
and  capacious  enough  to  take  what  the  mother  country 
sent  it,  and  more  also.  But  in  order  to  prevent  loss, 
an  export  duty  was  enforced,  which  pressed  lightly  on 
those  who  paid  it,  and  comforted  those  to  whom  it  was 
paid.  Commerce  was  greatly  stimulated,  and  the  mer- 
chants of  old  Amsterdam  sent  compliments  and  prophe- 
cies of  future  greatness  to  their  brethren  across  the  sea. 
Every  new-hatched  settlement  that  springs  up  on  the 
borders  of  the  wilderness  is  liable  to  be  "hailed"  by  its 
promoters  as  destined  to  become  the  Queen  City  of  its 
region ;  the  wish  fathers  the  word,  and  the  word  is  an 
advertisement.  But  the  merchant  princes  of  Amster- 
dam spoke  by  the  card;  they  perceived  the  almost 
unique  advantages  of  geographical  position  and  local 
facilities  of  their  American  namesake ;  with  such  a  bay 
and  water  front,  with  such  a  river,  with  such  a  soil 
and  such  openings  for  trade,  what  might  it  not  become ! 
Yes,  but  Sic  vos  non  vobis  cedificatis!  The  English 

118 


FKOM    HTDSOX    TO    STUYVESANT 

reaped  what  the  Dutch  had  sown,  and  New  York  inherits 
the  glory  and  power  predicted  for  New  Amsterdam. 

The  soil  of  Manhattan  Island  being  comparatively 
poor,  the  place  was  destined  to  be  used  as  a  resi- 
dence merely,  and  the  houses  of  prosperous  traders  and 
burghers  began  to  assemble  and  bear  likeness  to  a  town. 
The  primeval  forest  still  clothed  the  upper  part  of  the 
island ;  but  the  visible  presence  of  a  municipality  in  the 
southern  extremity  prompted  the  inhabitants  to  sug- 
gest a  remodeling  of  the  government  somewhat  after  the 
New  England  pattern,  where  Patroons  were  unknown 
and  impossible.  It  is  not  surprising  that  suggestions 
to  this  effect  from  the  humbler  members  of  the  commu- 
nity were  not  cordially  embraced  by  either  the  Patroons 
or  their  creators  at  home ;  in  fact,  it  was  stillborn.  That 
the  people  should  rule  themselves  was  as  good  as  to  say 
that  the  horse  should  loll  in  the  carriage  while  his  mas- 
ter toiled  between  the  shafts.  The  thing  was  impossible, 
and  should  be  unmentionable.  The  people,  however, 
continued  to  mention  it,  and  even  to  neglect  paying  the 
taxes  which  had  been  imposed  with  no  regard  to  their 
reasonable  welfare.  A  deputation  went  to  Holland  to 
tell  the  directors  that  they  could  neither  farm  nor 
trade  with  profit  unless  the  burdens  were  lightened; 
the  directors  thought  otherwise,  and  the  consequence 
was  that  devices  were  practiced  to  lighten  them  illic- 
itly. This  added  to  the  interest  of  life,  but  subverted 
the  welfare  of  the  state.  Where  political  rights  are  not 
secured  to  all  men  by  constitutional  right,  those  who 
are  unable  to  get  them  by  privilege,  intrigue  to  steal 
what  such  rights  would  guarantee.  At  this  rate  there 
would  presently  be  a  Council  of  Ten  and  an  Inquisi- 
tion in  New  Amsterdam.  In  1653  the  Governor  was 
constrained  to  admit  the  deputies  from  the  various 
settlements  tp  afc  interview,  in  which  they  said  their 
say,  and  he  his.  "We  have  come  here  at  our  own 
expense/'  they  observed,  "from  various  countries  of 
Europe,  expecting  to  be  given  protection  while  earn- 
ing our  living;  we  have  turned  your  wilderness  into  a 
fruitful  garden  for  you,  and  you,  in  return,  impose  on 
us  laws  which  disable  us  from  profiting  by  our  labor. 

119 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

We  ask  you  to  repeal  these  laws,  allow  us  to  make  laws 
to  meet  our  needs,  and  appoint  none  to  office  who  has 
not  our  approbation."  Thus,  in  substance,  spoke  the 
people;  and  we,  at  the  end  of  the  Nineteenth  Century, 
ma.y  think  they  were  uttering  the  veriest  axioms  of 
political  common  sense.  What  sturdy  Peter  Stuyvesant 
thought  is  perfectly  expressed  in  what  he  replied. 

"The  old  laws  will  stand.  Directors  and  council  only 
shall  be  lawmakers;  never  will  they  make  themselves 
responsible  to  the  people.  As  to  officers  of  government, 
were  their  election  left  to  the  rabble,  we  should  have 
thieves  on  horseback  and  honest  men  on  foot."  And 
with  that,  we  may  imagine,  the  Governor  stamped  his 
wooden  toe. 

The  people  shrugged  their  shoulders.  "We  aim  but 
at  the  general  good,"  said  they.  "All  men  have  a  nat- 
ural right  to  constitute  society,  and  to  assemble  to  pro- 
tect their  liberties  and  property." 

"I  declare  this  assembly  dissolved,"  Peter  retorted. 
"Assemble  again  at  your  peril!  The  authority  which 
rules  you  is  derived  not  from  the  whim  of  a  few  igno- 
rant malcontents."  Alas!  the  seed  of  the  American 
idea  had  never  germinated  in  Peter's  soldierly  bo,som; 
and  when  the  West  India  Company  learned  of  the  dia- 
logue they  spluttered  with  indignation.  "The  people 

be  d d !"  was  the  sense  of  their  message.  "Let  them 

no  longer  delude  themselves  with  the  fantasy  that  taxes 
require  their  assent."  With  that  they  dismissed  the 
matter  from  their  minds.  Yet  even  then  the  writing 
was  on  the  wall.  The  flouted  people  were  ripe  to  wel- 
come England;  and  England,  in  the  shape  of  Charles 
II,  who  had  come  at  last  to  his  own,  meditated  wiping 
the  Dutch  off  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  It  availed  not 
to  plead  rights :  Lord  Baltimore  snapped  his  fingers. 
Lieutenant  Governor  Beekman,  indeed,  delayed  the  ap- 
propriation of  Delaware;  but  Long  Island  was  being 
swallowed  up,  and  nobody  except  the  Government  cared. 
The  people  may  be  incompetent  to  frame  laws:  but 
what  if  they  decline  to  fight  for  you  when  called  upon  ? 
If  they  cannot  make  taxes  to  please  themselves,  at  all 
events  they  will  not  make  war  to  please  anybody  else. 

120 


FROM    HUDSON    TO    STUYVESANT 

If  they  are  poor  and  ignorant,  that  is  not  their  fault. 
The  English  fleet  was  impending;  what  was  to  be  done? 
Could  Stuyvesaut  but  have  multiplied  himself  into  a 
thousand  Stuyvesants,  he  knew  what  he  would  do ;  but 
he  was  impotent.  In  August,  1664,  here  was  the  fleet 
actually  anchored  in  Gravesend  Bay,  with  Nicolls  in 
command.  "What  did  they  want?"  the  Governor  in- 
quired. "Immediate  recognition  of  English  sover- 
eignty," replied  Nicolls  curtly;  and  the  gentler  voice 
of  Winthrop  of  Boston  was  heard,  advising  surrender. 
"Surrender  would  be  reproved  at  home,"  said  poor  Stuy- 
vesant,  refusing  to  know  when  he  was  beaten.  He  was 
doing  his  best  to  defeat  the  army  and  navy  of  England 
single-handed.  But  the  burgomasters  went  behind  him 
and  capitulated,  and — Peter  to  the  contrary  for  four 
days  more  notwithstanding — New  Amsterdam  became 
New  York. 

The  English  courted  favor  by  liberal  treatment  of 
their  new  dependents  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Hud- 
son; whatever  the  Dutch  had  refused  to  do,  they  did. 
The  Governor  and  Council  were  to  be  balanced  by  the 
people's  representatives;  no  more  arbitrary  taxation; 
citizens  might  think  and  pray  as  best  pleased  them; 
land  tenure  was  made  easy,  and  seventy-five  acres  was 
the  bounty  for  each  emigrant  imported,  negroes  in- 
cluded. By  such  inducements  the  wilderness  of  New 
Jersey,  assigned  to  Berkeley  and  Carteret,  was  peopled 
by  Scots,  New  Englanders,  and  Quakers.  Settlement 
proceeded  rapidly,  and  in  1668  a  colonial  Legislature 
met  in  the  town  named  after  Elizabeth  Carteret.  There 
were  so  many  Puritans  in  the  Assembly,  and  their  argu- 
ments were  so  convincing,  that  New  Jersey  law  bore  a 
strong  family  resemblance  to  that  of  New  England. 
This  had  its  effect  when,  in  1670,  the  rent  question 
came  up  for  settlement.  The  Puritans  contended  that 
the  Indians  held  from  Noah,  and  as  they  were  lawful 
heirs  of  the  Indians,  they  declined  to  pay  rents  to  the 
English  proprietors.  There  was  no  means  of  compel- 
ling them  to  do  so,  and  they  had  their  way.  The 
Yankees  were  already  going  ahead. 

Manhattan  did  not  get  treated  quite  so  well.  The 

121 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Governor  had  everything  his  own  way,  the  Council 
being  his  creatures,  and  the  justices  his  appointees. 
The  people  were  permitted  no  voice  in  affairs,  and  might 
as  well  have  had  Stuyvesant  back  again.  After  Nicolls 
had  strutted  his  term,  Lord  Lovelace  came,  and  outdid 
him.  His  idea  of  how  to  govern  was  formulated  in  his 
instructions  to  an  agent:  "Lay  such  taxes,"  said  he, 
"as  may  give  them  liberty  for  no  thought  but  how  to 
discharge  them."  Lord  Lovelace  was  an  epigrammatist ; 
but  in  the  end  he  had  to  pay  for  his  wit.  He  attempted 
to  levy  a  tax  for  defense,  and  was  met  with  refusal; 
the  towns  of  Long  Island  had  not  one  cent  either  for 
tribute  or  defense ;  his  lordship  swore  at  them  heartily, 
but  they  heeded  him  not;  and  he  found  himself  in  the 
shoes  of  the  ousted  Dutch  Governor  in  another  sense 
than  he  desired.  And  then  was  poetical  justice  made 
complete;  for  who  should  appear  before  the  helpless 
forts  but  Evertsen  with  a  Dutch  fleet !  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  and  Delaware  surrendered  to  him  almost  with 
enthusiasm,  and  the  work  of  England  seemed  to  be  all 
undone. 

But  larger  events  were  to  control  the  lesser.  France 
and  England  combined  in  an  iniquitous  conspiracy  to 
destroy  the  Dutch  Kepublic,  and  swooped  down  upon 
the  coast  with  two  hundred  thousand  men.  The  story 
has  often  been  told  how  the  Dutch,  tenfold  outnum- 
bered, desperately  and  gloriously  defended  themselves. 
They  finally  swept  the  English  from  the  seas  and  pa- 
trolled the  Channel  with  a  broom  at  the  masthead.  By 
the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  peace  which  Charles  was 
obliged  by  his  own  Parliament  to  make,  all  conquests 
were  mutually  restored,  and  New  York  consequently 
reverted  to  England.  West  Jersey  was  bought  by  the 
Quakers ;  the  eastern  half  of  the  province  was  restored 
to  the  rule  of  Carteret.  The  Atlantic  Coast,  from 
Canada  down  to  Florida,  continuously,  was  English 
ground,  and  so  remained  until,  a  century  later,  the 
transplanted  spirit  of  liberty,  born  in  England,  threw 
down  the  gauntlet  to  the  spirit  of  English  tyranny, 
and  won  independence  for  the  United  States.  " 

When  we  remember  that  the  Dutch  maintained  their 
122 


FROM    HUDSON   TO  'sTUYVESANT 

Government  in  the  new  world  for  little  more  than  fifty 
years,  it  is  surprising  how  deep  a  mark  they  made 
there.  It  is  partly  because  their  story  lends  itself  to 
picturesque  and  graphic  treatment;  it  is  so  rich  in 
character  and  color,  and  telling  in  incident.  Then,  too, 
it  has  a  beginning,  middle,  and  end,  which  is  what  his- 
torians as  well  as  romancers  love.  But  most  of  all, 
perhaps,  their  brief  chronicles  as  a  distinct  political 
phenomenon  illustrate  the  profound  problem  of  self- 
government  in  mankind.  The  Netherlands  had  proved, 
before  any  of  them  came  hither,  with  what  inflexible 
courage  they  could  resent  foreign  tyranny;  and  the 
municipalities,  as  well  as  the  nation,  had  grasped  the 
principles  of  independence.  But  it  was  not  until  they 
erected  their  little  commonwealth  amid  the  forests  of 
the  Hudson  that  they  awakened  to  the  conception  that 
every  man  should  bear  his  part  in  the  government  of 
all.  To  attain  this  it  was  necessary  to  break  through 
a  crust  of  conservatism  almost  as  stubborn  as  that  of 
Spain.  The  authority  of  their  upper  classes  had  never 
been  questioned;  the  idea  had  never  been  entertained 
that  a  citizen  in  humble  life  could  claim  any  right  to 
influence  the  conditions  under  which  his  life  should  be 
carried  on.  That  innate  and  inalienable  right  of  the 
individual  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness 
which  Jefferson  asserted,  and  which  has  become  an 
axiom  to  every  American  schoolboy,  does  not  appear 
upon  investigation  to  be  either  inalienable  or  innate. 
The  history  of  mankind  shows  that  it  has  been  con- 
stantly alienated  from  them ;  and  if  we  pass  in  review 
the  population  of  the  world,  from  the  oldest  to  con- 
temporary times,  and  from  savage  tribes  to  the  most 
highly  civilized  nations,  we  find  the  plebeian  bowing 
before  the  patrician,  the  poor  man  serving  the  wealthy. 
The  conception  of  human  equality  before  the  law  is  not 
a  congenital  endowment,  but  an  accomplishment,  ardu- 
ously acquired  and  easily  forfeited.  The  first  impulse 
of  weakness  in  the  presence  of  strength  is  to  bow  down 
before  it ;  it  is  the  impulse  of  the  animal,  and  of  the  , 
unspiritual,  the  unregenerate  nature  in  man.  The  abil-  ' 
ity  to  recognize  the  solidarity  of  man,  and  therefore  the 

123 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

equality  of  spiritual  manhood,  involves  an  uplifting  of 
the  inind,  an  illumination  of  the  soul,  which  can  be 
regarded  as  the  result  of  nothing  less  than  a  revelation. 
It  is  not  developed  from  below — it  is  received  from 
above;  it  is  a  divine  whisper  in  the  ear  of  fallen  man, 
transfiguring  him  and  opening  before  him  the  way  of 
life.  It  postulates  no  loss  of  humility ;  it  does  not  dis- 
turb the  truth  that  some  must  serve  and  some  must 
.direct;  that  some  shall  have  charge  over  many  things 
and  some  over  but  few.  It  does  not  supersede  the  out- 
ward order  of  society.  But  it  affirms  that  to  no  man 
or  body  of  men,  no  matter  how  highly  endowed  by  na- 
ture or  circumstance  with  intellect,  position,  or  riches, 
shall  be  accorded  the  right  to  dispose  arbitrarily  of  the 
lives  and  welfare  of  the  masses.  Not  elsewhere  than 
in  the  hands  of  the  entire  community  shall  be  lodged 
the  reins  of  government.  The  administration  shall  be 
with  the  chosen  ones  whose  training  and  qualifications 
fit  them  for  that  function ;  but  the  principles  on  which 
their  administration  is  conducted  shall  be  determined 
by  the  will  and  vote  of  all. 

This  is  not  lightly  to  be  believed  or  understood; 
Peter.  Stuyvesant  voiced  the  unenlightened  thought 
when  he  said  that  should  the  rabble  rule,  order  and 
honesty  must  be  overthrown.  This  is  the  inevitable 
conclusion  of  materialistic  logic.  Like  produces  like; 
evil,  evil;  ignorance,  ignorance.  Only  by  inspired  faith 
will  the  experiment  be  tried  of  trusting  the  Creator  to 
manifest  His  purposes,  not  by  the  conscious  wisdom 
of  any  man  or  men,  but  through  the  unconscious,  or- 
ganic tendency,  mental  and  moral,  of  universal  man. 
We  may  call  it  "the  tendency,  not  ourselves,  which 
makes  for  righteousness";  or  we  may  analyze  it  into 
the  resultant  of  innumerable  forces,  taking  a  direction 
independent  of  them  all ;  or  we  may  say  simply  that  it 
is  the  Divine  method  of  leading  us  upward;  it  is  all 
one.  Universal  suffrage  is  an  act  of  faith ;  and,  faith- 
fully carried  out,  it  brings  political  and  religious  eman- 
cipation to  the  people.  How  far  it  has  been  carried  out 
in  this  country  is  a  question  we  shall  have  to  answer 
hereafter;  we  may  say  here  that  our  forefathers  real- 

124 


FROM   HUDSON   TO    STUYVESANT 

ized  its  value,  and  gave  to  us  in  our  Constitution  the 
mechanism  whereby  to  practice  it.  To  it  they  added 
the  memory  of  their  courage  and  their  sacrifices  in  its 
behalf;  and  more  than  this  was  not  theirs  to  give. 

The  English  Puritans  received  their  revelation  in  one 
way ;  the  Dutch  traders  and  farmers  in  another ;  but  it 
was  the  same  revelation.  To  neither  could  it  be  im- 
parted in  Europe,  but  only  in  the  virgin  solitudes  of 
an  untrodden  continent.  There  man,  already  civilized, 
was  enabled  to  perceive  the  inefficiency  and  distor- 
tion of  his  civilization,  and  to  grasp  the  cure.  Hudson, 
an  Englishman,  but  at  the  moment  in  Dutch  service, 
opened  the  gates  to  the  Netherlands,  and  thus  enabled 
their  emigrants  to  perfect  the  work  of  emancipation 
which  had  been  brought  to  the  highest  stage  it  coukl 
reach  at  home.  They  were  opposed  by  the  directors 
in  Amsterdam,  by  their  own  governors  and  Patroons, 
and  by  the  errors  which  immemorial  usage  had  in- 
grained in  them  as  individuals.  They  overcame  these 
forces,  not  by  their  own  strength,  nor  by  any  violent 
act  of  revolution,  but  by  the  slow,  irresistible  energy  of 
natural  law,  with  which,  as  with  a  gravitative  force, 
they  had  placed  themselves  in  harmony.  Thus  they 
exemplified  one  of  the  several  ways  in  which  freedom 
comes  to  man,  and  took  their  place  as  a  component  ele- 
ment in  the  limitless  cosmopolitanism  of  our  population. 

Their  subsequent  history  shows  that  nothing  truly 
valuable  is  lost  in  democracy.  The  high  behavior  and 
dignified  manners  which  belonged  to  their  Patroons 
may  be  observed  among  their  descendants  in  contem- 
porary New  York ;  the  men  whose  ancestors  controlled 
a  thousand  tenants  have  not  lost  the  powers  of  han- 
dling large  matters  in  a  large  spirit ;  but  they  exercise 
it  now  for  worthier  ends  than  of  old.  Similarly  the 
Dutch  stolidity  which  amuses  us  in  the  chronicles  re- 
appears to-day  in  the  form  of  steadiness  and  judgment ; 
the  obstinacy  of  headstrong  Peter  as  self-confidence  and 
perseverance;  the  physical  grossness  of  the  old  burgh- 
ers as  constitutional  vigor.  Many  of  their  customs, 
too,  have  come  down  to  us ;  their  heavy  afternoon  teas 
are  recalled  in  our  informal  receptions;  their  New 

125 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

Year's  Day  sociability  in  our  calls;  their  Christmas 
celebrations  in  our  festival  of  Santa  Claus.  Much  of 
our  domestic  architecture  reflects  their  influence:  the 
gabled  fronts,  the  tiled  fireplaces,  the  high  stoops, 
and  the  custom  of  sitting  on  them  in  summer  evenings. 
In  general  it  is  seen  that  the  effect  of  democratic  insti- 
tutions is  to  save  the  grain  and  reject  the  chaff,  be- 
cause criticism  becomes  more  close  and  punctual, 
abuses  and  license  are  not  chartered,  and  the  indi- 
vidual is  bereft  of  artificial  supports  and  disguises, 
and  must  appear  more  nearly  as  God  made  him. 


126 


CHAPTER  V 

LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 

WE  LEFT  the  colony  at  Jamestown  emerging 
from  thick  darkness  and  much  tribulation 
toward  the  light.  Some  distance  was  still  to 
be  traversed  before  full  light  and  easement  were  at- 
tained; but  fortune,  upon  the  whole,  was  kinder  to 
Virginia  than  to  most  of  the  other  settlements;  and 
though  clouds  gathered  darkly  now  and  then,  and 
storms  threatened,  and  here  and  there  a  bolt  fell,  yet 
deliverance  came  beyond  expectation.  Something 
Virginia  suffered  from  royal  governors,  something 
from  the  Indians,  something  too  from  the  imprudence 
and  wrong-headedness  of  her  own  people.  But  her 
story  is  full  of  stirring  and  instructive  passages.  It 
tells  how  a  community  chiefly  of  aristocratic  constitu- 
tion and  sympathies,  whose  loyalty  to  the  English 
throne  was  deep  and  ardent,  and  whose  type  of  life 
was  patrician,  nevertheless  were  won  insensibly  and  in- 
evitably to  espouse  the  principles  of  democracy.  It 
shows  how,  with  honest  men,  a  king  may  be  loved,  and 
the  system  which  he  stands  for  reverenced  and  de- 
fended, while  yet  the  lovers  and  apologists  choose  and 
maintain  a  wholly  different  system  for  themselves. 
The  House  of  Stuart  had  none  but  friends  in  Virginia; 
when  the  sou  of  Charles  the  First  was  a  fugitive,  Vir- 
ginia offered  him  a  home;  and  the  follies  and  frailties 
of  his  father,  and  the  grotesque  chicaneries  of  his 
grandfather,  could  not  alienate  the  colonists'  affection. 
Yet,  from  the  moment  their  Great  Charter  was  given 
them,  they  never  ceased  to  defend  the  liberties  which1 
it  bestowed  against  every  kingly  effort  to  curtail  OE 
destroy  them ;  and  on  at  least  one  occasion  they  fairly; 
usurped  the  royal  prerogative.  They  presented,  in 
short,  the  striking  anomaly  of  a  people  acknowledging 

127 


HISTOKY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

a  monarch  and  at  the  same  time  claiming  the  fullest 
measure  of  political  liberty  till  then  enjoyed  by  any 
community  in  modern  history.  They  themselves  per- 
ceived no  inconsistency  in  their  attitude;  but  to  us  it 
is  patent,  and  its  meaning  is  that  the  sentiment  of  a 
tradition  may  be  cherished  and  survive  long  after  in- 
telligence and  experience  have  caused  the  thing  itself 
to  be  consigned  to  the  rubbish  heap  of  the  past. 

So  long  as  Sir  Thomas  Smythe  occupied  the  presi- 
dent's chair  of  the  London  Company,  there  could  be  no 
hope  of  substantial  prosperity  for  the  Jamestown  emi- 
grants. He  was  a  selfish  and  conceited  satrap,  in- 
capable of  enlightened  thought  or  beneficent  action, 
who  knew  no  other  way  to  magnify  his  own  importance 
than  by  suffocating  the  rights  and  insulting  the  self- 
respect  of  others.  He  had  a  protege  in  Argall,  a  dis- 
orderly ruffian  who  was  made  Deputy  Governor  of  the 
colony  in  1617.  His  administration  was  that  of  a  free- 
booter ;  but  the  feeble  and  dwindling  colony  had  neither 
power  nor  spirit  to  do  more  than  send  a  complaint  to 
London.  Lord  Delaware  had  in  the  meantime  sailed 
for  Virginia,  but  died  on  the  trip ;  Argall  was,  however, 
dismissed,  and  Sir  George  Yeardley  substituted  for  him 
— a  man  of  gracious  manners  and  generous  nature,  but 
somewhat  lacking  in  the  force  and  firmness  that  should 
build  up  a  state.  He  had  behind  him  the  best  men  in 
the  company  if  not  in  all  England:  Sir  Edward 
Sandys,  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  and  Nicolas  Ferrar. 
Smythe  had  had  resignation  forced  upon  him,  and 
with  him  the  evil  influences  in  the  management  re- 
tired to  the  background.  Sandys  was  triumphantly 
elected  Governor  and  Treasurer,  with  Ferrar  as  cor- 
poration counsel;  Southampton  was  a  powerful  sup- 
porter. They  were  all  young  men,  all  royalists,  and  all 
unselfishly  devoted  to  the  cause  of  human  liberty  and 
welfare.  Virginia  never  had  better  or  more  urgent 
friends. 

Yeardley,  on  his  arrival,  found  distress  and  dis- 
couragement, and  hardly  one  man  remaining  in  the 
place  of  twenty.  The  colonists  had  been  robbed  both 
by  process  of  law  and  without;  they  had  been  killed 

128 


LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 

and  bad  died  of  disease;  they  had  deserted  and  been 
deported ;  they  had  been  denied  lands  of  their  own,  or 
the  benefit  of  their  own  labor;  and  they  had  been  per- 
mitted no  part  in  the  management  of  their  own  affairs. 
The  rumor  of  these  injuries  and  disabilities  had  got 
abroad,  and  no  recruits  for  the  colony  had  been  ob- 
tainable; the  Indians  were  ill-disposed,  and  the  houses 
poor  and  few.  Women  too  were  lamentably  scanty, 
and  the  people  had  no  root  in  the  country,  and  no 
thought  but  to  leave  it.  Like  the  emigrants  to  the 
Klondike  gold  fields  in  our  own  day  they  had  designed 
only  to  better  their  fortunes  and  then  depart.  The 
former  hope  was  gone ;  the  latter  was  all  that  was  left. 

Yeardley's  business  in  the  premises  was  agreeable 
and  congenial ;  he  had  a  letter  from  the  company  pro- 
viding for  the  abatement  of  past  evils  and  abuses,  and 
the  establishment  of  justice,  security,  and  happiness. 
He  sent  messengers  far  and  wide,  summoning  a  gen- 
eral meeting  to  hear  his  news  and  confer  together  for 
the  common  weal. 

Hardly  venturing  to  believe  that  any  good  thing 
could  be  in  store  for  them,  the  burgesses  and  others 
assembled,  and  crowded  into  the  place  of  meeting. 
Twenty-two  delegates  from  the  eleven  plantations  were 
there,  clad  in  their  dingy  and  dilapidated  raiment,  and 
wide-brimmed  hats ;  most  of  them  with  swords  at  their 
sides,  and  some  with  rusty  muskets  in  their  hands. 
Their  cheeks  were  lank  and  their  faces  sunburned ;  their 
bearing  was  listless,  yet  marked  with  some  touch  of 
curiosity  and  expectation.  There  were  among  them 
some  well-filled  brows  and  strong  features,  announc- 
ing men  of  ability  and  thoughtfulness,  though  they  had 
lacked  the  opportunity  and  the  cue  for  action.  Their 
long  days  on  the  plantations,  and  their  uneasy  nights 
in  the  summer  heats,  had  given  them  abundant  leisure 
to  think  over  their  grievances  and  misfortunes,  and  to 
dream  of  possible  reforms  and  innovations.  But  of 
what  profit  was  it?  Their  governors  had  no  thought 
but  to  fill  their  own  pockets,  the  council  was  powerless 
or  treacherous,  and  everything  was  slipping  away. 

It  was  in  the  depths  of  summer — the  30th  of  July, 

U.S.— 5    VOL.  I  129 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

1619.  More  than  a  year  was  yet  to  pass  before  the 
Mayflower  would  enter  the  wintry  shelter  of  Plym- 
outh harbor.  In  the  latitude  of  Jamestown  the  tem- 
perature was  almost  tropical  at  this  season,  and 
exhausting  to  body  and  spirit.  The  room  in  which  they 
met,  in  the  Governor's  house  in  Jamestown,  was  hardly 
spacious  enough  for  their  accommodation:  four  un- 
adorned walls,  with  a  ceiling  that  could  be  touched  by 
an  upraised  hand.  It  had  none  of  the  aspect  of  a  hall  of 
legislature,  much  less  of  one  in  which  was  to  take  place 
an  event  so  large  and  memorable  as  the  birth  of  liberty 
in  a  new  world.  But  the  delegates  thronged  in,  and 
were  greeted  at  their  entrance  by  Yeardley,  who  stood 
at  a  table  near  the  upper  end  of  the  room,  with  a  secre- 
tary beside  him  and  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land on  his  other  hand.  The  colonists  looked  at  his 
urbane  and  conciliating  countenance,  and  glanced  at 
the  document  he  held  in  his  hand,  and  wondered  what 
would  be  the  issue.  Nothing  of  moment,  doubtless.; 
still,  they  could  scarcely  be  much  worse  off  than  they 
were;  and  the  new  Governor  certainly  had  the  air  of 
having  something  important  to  communicate.  They 
took  their  places,  leaning  against  the  walls,  or  standing 
with  their  hands  clasped  over  the  muzzles  of  their 
muskets,  or  supporting  one  foot  upon  a  bench ;  and  the 
gaze  of  all  was  concentrated  on  the  Governor.  As  he 
opened  the  paper,  a  silence  fell  upon  the  Assembly. 

Such,  we  may  imagine,  were  the  surroundings  and 
circumstances  of   this   famous   gathering,   the   trans- 
actions of  which  fill  so  bright  a  page  in  the  annals  of 
the  early  colonies.  The  Governor  asked  the  clergyman 
for  a  blessing,  and  when  the  prayer  was  done  suggested 
the  choosing  of  a  chairman,  or  speaker.  The  choice  fell 
j  upon  John  Pory,  a  member  of  the  former  council.  Then 
\the  Governor  read  his  letter  from  the  company   in 
London. 

The  letter,  in  few  words,  opened  the  door  to  every 
reform  which  could  make  the  colony  free,  prosperous 
and  happy,  and  declared  all  past  wrongs  at  an  end. 
It  merely  outlined  the  scope  of  the  improvements,  leav- 
ing it  to  the  colonists  themselves  to  fill  in  the  details. 

130 


LIBERTY,    SLAVERY,    AND  "TYRANNY 

"Those  cruel  laws  were  abrogated,  and  they  were  to  be 
governed  by  those  free  laws  under  which  his  Majesty's 
subjects  in  England  lived."  An  annual  grand  assembly, 
consisting  of  the  governor  and  council  and  two  bur- 
gesses from  each  plantation,  chosen  by  the  people,  was 
to  be  held;  and  at  these  assemblies  they  were  to  frame 
whatever  laws  they  deemed  proper  for  their  welfare. 
These  concessions  were  of  the  more  value  and  effect 
because  they  were  advocated  in  England  by  men  who 
had  only  the  good  of  the  colony  at  heart,  and  possessed 
power  to  enforce  their  will. 

It  seemed  almost  too  good  to  be  true :  it  was  like  the 
sun  rising  after  the  long  arctic  night.  Those  sad  faces 
flushed,  and  the  moody  eyes  kindled.  The  burgesses 
straightened  their  backs  and  lifted  their  heads;  they 
looked  at  one  another,  and  felt  that  they  were  once 
more  men.  There  was  a  murmur  of  joy  and  congratu- 
lation; and  thanks  were  uttered  to  God,  and  to  the 
company,  for  what  had  been  done.  And  forthwith  they 
set  to  work  with  life  and  energy,  and  with  a  judgment 
and  foresight  which  were  hardly  to  have  been  looked 
for  in  legislators  so  untried,  to  construct  the  platform 
of  enactments  upon  which  the  commonwealth  of  Vir- 
ginia was  henceforth  to  stand. 

From  the  body  of  the  delegates  two  committees  were 
selected  to  devise  the  new  laws  and  provisions,  while 
the  Governor  and  the  rest  reviewed  the  laws  already  in 
existence,  to  determine  what  part  of  them,  if  any,  was 
suitable  for  continuance.  Among  the  articles  agreed 
upon  were  regulations  relating  to  distribution  and  ten- 
ure of  land,  which  replaced  all  former  patents  and 
privileges,  and  set  all  holders  on  an  equal  footing:  the 
recognition  of  the  Church  of  England  as  governing  the' 
mode  of  worship  in  Virginia,  with  a  good  salary  for 
clergymen  and  an  injunction  that  all  and  sundry  were 
to  appear  at  church  every  Sunday,  and  bring  their 
weapons  with  them — thus  insuring  Heaven  a  fair  hear- 
ing, while  at  the  same  time  making  provision  against 
the  insecurity  of  carnal  things.  The  wives  of  the 
planters  as  well  as  their  husbands  were  capacitated  to 
own  land,  because,  in  a  new  world,  a  woman  might  turn 

131 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

out  to  be  as  efficient  as  the  man.  This  sounds  almost 
prophetic;  but  it  was  probably  intended  to  operate  on 
the  cultivation  of  the  silkworm.  Plantations  of  the 
mulberry  had  been  ordered,  and  culture  of  the  cocoon 
was  an  industry  fitting  to  the  gentler  sex,  who  were 
the  more  likely  to  succeed  in  it  on  account  of  their 
known  partiality  for  the  product.  On  the  other  hand, 
excess  in  apparel  was  kept  within  bounds  by  a  tax.  The 
planting  of  vines  was  also  ordered ;  but  as  a  matter  of 
fact  the  manufacture  of  neither  wine  nor  silk  was  des- 
tined to  succeed  in  the  colony ;  tobacco  and  cotton  were 
to  be  its  staples,  but  the  latter  had  not  at  this  epoch 
been  attempted.  Order  and  propriety  among  the  colo- 
nists were  assured  by  penalties  on  gaming,  drunken- 
ness, and  sloth;  and  the  better  to  guard  against  the 
proverbial  wiles  of  Satan,  a  university  was  sketched 
out,  and  direction  was  given  that  such  children  of 
the  heathen  as  showed  indications  of  latent  talent 
should  be  caught,  tamed,  and  instructed,  and  employed 
as  missionaries  among  their  tribes.  Finally  a  fixed 
price  of  three  shillings  for  the  best  quality  of  tobacco 
and  eighteen  pence  for  inferior  brands  was  appointed ; 
thus  giving  the  colony  a  currency  which  had  the  double 
merit  of  being  a  sound  medium  for  traffic,  and  an 
agreeable  consolation  and  incense  when  the  labors  of 
the  day  were  past. 

It  was  a  good  day's  work ;  and  the  Assembly  dissolved 
with  the  conviction  that  their  time  had  never  before 
been  passed  to  such  advantage.  Yeardley,  knowing  the 
disposition  of  the  managers  in  London,  opposed  no  ob- 
jection to  the  immediate  practical  enforcement  of  the 
new  enactments;  and  indeed  Sandys,  when  he  had  an 
opportunity  of  examining  the  digest,  expressed  the 
opinion  that  it  had  been  "well  and  judiciously  formed." 
The  colonists,  for  their  part,  dismissed  all  anxieties 
and  shadows  from  their  minds,  and  fell  to  putting  in 
crops  and  putting  up  dwellings  as  men  will  who  have  a 
stake  in  their  country,  and  feel  that  they  can  live  in  it. 
Their  confidence  was  not  misplaced ;  within  a  year  from 
this  time  the  number  of  the  colonists  had  been  more 
than  doubled,  and  all  troubles  seemed  at  an  end. 

132 


LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 

So  long,  however,  as  James  I  disgraced  the  throne  of 
England  popular  liberties  could  never  be  quite  sure  of 
immunity ;  and  during  the  five  or  six  years  that  he  still 
had  to  live,  he  did  his  best  to  disturb  the  felicity  of  his 
Virginian  subjects.  He  was  unable  to  do  anything  very 
serious,  and  what  he  did  do  was  in  contravention  of 
law.  He  got  Sandys  out  of  the  presidency ;  but  South- 
ampton was  immediately  put  in  his  place;  he  tried  to 
get  away  the  patent  which  he  himself  had  issued,  and 
finally  did  so ;  but  the  colony  kept  its  laws  and  its  free- 
dom, though  the  Throne  thenceforward  appointed  the 
governors.  He  put  a  heavy  tax  on  tobacco,  which  he 
professed  to  regard  as  an  invention  of  the  enemy ;  and 
he  countenanced  an  attempt  by  Lord  Warwick,  in  be- 
half of  Argall,  to  continue  martial  law  in  the  colony 
instead  of  allowing  trial  by  jury ;  but  in  this  he  was  de- 
feated. He  sent  out  two  commissioners  to  Virginia  to 
discover  pretexts  for  harassing  it,  and  took  the  matter 
out  of  the  hands  of  Parliament;  but  the  Virginians 
maintained  themselves  until  death  stepped  in  and  put 
a  final  stop  to  his  Majesty's  industry,  and  Charles  I 
came  to  the  throne. 

The  climate  of  Virginia  does  not  predispose  to  ex- 
ertion; yet  farming  involves  hard  physical  work;  and, 
beyond  anything  else,  the  wealth  of  Virginia  was 
derived  from  farming.  Manufactures  had  not  come  in 
view,  and  were  discouraged  or  forbidden  by  English 
decree.  But,  as  we  saw  in  the  early  days  of  James- 
town, the  settlers  there  wrere  unusued  to  work,  and 
averse  from  it;  although,  under  the  stimulus  of  Cap- 
tain John  Smith,  they  did  learn  how  to  chop  down 
trees.  After  the  colony  became  popular,  and  populous, 
the  emigrants  continued  to  be  in  a  large  measure  of  a 
social  class  to  whom  manual  labor  is  unattractive.  A 
country  in  which  laborers  are  indispensable,  and  which 
is  inhabited  by  persons  disinclined  to  labor,  would  seem 
to  stand  no  good  chance  of  achieving  prosperity.  How, 
then,  is  the  early  prosperity  of  Virginia  to  be  ex- 
plained? The  charter  did  not  make  men  work. 

It  was  due  to  the  employment  of  slave  labor.  Slaves 
in  the  Seventeenth  Century  were  easily  acquired,  and 

133 


HISTOKY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

were  of  several  varieties.  At  one  time  there  were  more 
white  slaves  than  black.  White  captives  were  often1 
sold  into  slavery;  and  there  was  also  a  regular  trade1 
in  indentured  slaves,  or  servants,  sent  from  England.1 
These  were  to  work  out  their  freedom  by  a  certain^ 
number  of  years  of  labor  for  their  purchaser.  Convicts 
from  the  prisons  were  also  utilized  as  slaves.  In  the, 
same  year  that  the  Virginia  charter  bestowed  political) 
freedom  upon  the  colonists,  a  Dutch  ship  landed  ai 
batch  of  slaves  from  the  Guinea  coast,  where  the  Dutch 
had  a  footing.  They  were  strong  fellows,  and  the  ardor 
of  the  climate  suited  them  better  than  that  of  the 
regions  farther  north.  Negroes  soon  came  to  be  in 
demand  therefore;  they  did  not  die  in  captivity  as  the1 
Indians  were  apt  to  do,  and  a  regular  trade  in  them1 
was  presently  established.  A  negro  fetched  in  the 
market  more  than  twice  as  much  as  either  a  red  or  a 
white  man,  and  repaid  the  investment.  There  was  no 
general  sentiment  against  traffic  in  human  beings,  and 
it  was  not  settled  that  negroes  were  human  exactly. 
Slavery  at  all  events  had  been  the  normal  condition  of 
Guinea  negroes  from  the  earliest  times,  and  they  un- 
doubtedly were  worse  treated  by  their  African  than  by 
their  European  and  American  owners.  They  were  born 
slaves,  or  at  least  in  slavery.  There  had  of  course  been 
enlightened  humanitarians  as  far  back  as  the  Greek 
and  Koman  eras,  who  had  opined  that  the  principle  of 
slavery  was  wrong;  and  such  men  were  talking  still; 
but  ordinary  people  regarded  their  deliverances  as  be- 
ing in  the  nature  of  a  counsel  of  perfection,  which  was 
not  intended  to  be  observed  in  practice.  There  are 
fashions  in  humanitarianism  as  in  other  matters,  and 
multitudes  who  denounced  slavery  in  the  first  half  of 
this  Nineteenth  Century,  were  in  no  respect  better 
practical  moralists  than  were  the  Virginians  two  hun« 
dred  years  before.  But  the  time  had  to  come,  in  the 
course  of  human  events,  when  negro  slavery  was  to 
cease  in  America;  and  those  whose  business  interests, 
or  sentimental  prejudices,  were  opposed  to  it,  added 
the  chorus  of  their  disapproval  to  the  inscrutable  move- 
ments of  a  Power  above  all  prejudices.  Negro  slavery, 

134 


LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 

as  an  overt  institution,  is  no  more  in  these  States ;  but 
he  would  be  a  bold  or  a  blind  man  who  should  maintain 
that  slavery,  both  black  and  white,  has  no  existence 
among  us  to-day.  Meanwhile  the  Seventeenth  Century 
planters  of  Virginia  bought  and  sold  their  human  chat- 
tels with  an  untroubled  conscience ;  and  the  latter,  com- 
prehending even  less  of  the  ethics  of  the  question  than 
their  masters  did,  were  reasonably  happy.  They  were 
not  aware  that  human  nature  was  being  insulted  and 
degraded  in  their  persons:  they  were  transported  by 
no  moral  Indignation.  When  they  were  flogged,  they 
suffered,  but  when  their  bodies  stopped  smarting,  no 
pain  rankled  in  their  minds.  They  were  treated  like 
animals,  and  became  like  them.  They  had  no  anxieties; 
they  looked  neither  forward  nor  backward ;  their  phys- 
ical necessities  were  provided  for.  White  slavery  gradu- 
ally disappeared,  but  the  feeling  prevailed  that  slavery 
was  what  negroes  were  intended  for.  The  planters, 
after  a  few  generations,  came  to  feel  a  sort  of  affection 
for  their  bondsmen  who  had  been  born  on  the  estates 
and  handed  down  from  father  to  son.  Self-interest,  as 
well  as  natural  kindliness,  rendered  deliberate  cruelties 
rare.  The  negroes,  on  the  other  hand,  often  loved  their 
masters,  and  would  grieve  to  leave  them.  The  evils  of 
slavery  were  not  on  the  surface,  but  were  subtle,  latent, 
and  far  more  malignant  than  was  even  recently  re- 
alized. The  Abolitionists  thought  the  trouble  was  over 
when  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  was  signed. 
"We  can  put  on  our  coats  and  go  home  now,"  said 
Garrison;  and  Wendell  Phillips  said:  "I  know  of  no 
man  to-day  who  can  fold  his  arms  and  look  forward 
to  his  future  with  more  confidence  than  the  negro." 
We  shall  have  occasion  to  investigate  the  intelligence 
of  these  forecasts  by  and  by.  But  there  is  something 
striking  in  the  fact  that  that  country  which  claims  to 
be  the  freest  and  most  highly  civilized  in  the  world 
should  be  the  last  to  give  up  "the  peculiar  institution." 
How  can  devotion  to  liberty  coexist  in  the  mind  with 
advocacy  of  servitude?  This,  too,  is  a  subject  to  which 
we  must  revert  hereafter.  At  the  period  we  are  now 
treating  there  were  more  white  than  black  slaves,  and 

135 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  princely  estates  of  later  times  had  not  been  thought 
of.  Indeed,  in  spite  of  their  marriage  to  liberty,  the 
colonists  did  not  yet  feel  truly  at  home.  Marriage  of  a 
more  concrete  kind  was  needed  for  that. 

This  defect  was  understood  in  England,  and  the 
company  took  means  to  remedy  it.  A  number  of  de- 
sirable and  blameless  young  women  were  enlisted  to 
go  out  to  the  colony  and  console  the  bachelors  there. 
The  plan  was  discreetly  carried  out;  the  acquisition 
of  the  young  ladies  was  not  made  too  easy,  so  that 
neither  was  their  self-respect  wounded  nor  were  the 
bachelors  allowed  to  feel  that  beauty  and  virtue  in 
female  form  were  commonplace  commodities.  The 
romance  and  difficulty  of  the  situation  were  fairly  well 
preserved.  There  stood  the  possible  bride ;  but  she  was 
available  only  with  her  own  consent  and  approval; 
and  before  entering  the  matrimonial  estate,  the  bride- 
groom elect  must  pay  all  charges — so  many  pounds  of 
tobacco.  And  how  many  pounds  of  tobacco  was  a  good 
wife  worth?  From  one  point  of  view,  more  than  was 
ever  grown  in  Virginia;  but  the  sentimental  aspect  of 
the  transaction  had  to  be  left  out  of  consideration,  or 
the  enterprise  would  have  come  to  an  untimely  con- 
elusion.  From  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  of  the  weed  was  the  average  commercial  figure ; 
it  paid  expenses  and  gave  the  agents  a  commission; 
for  the  rest,  the  profit  was  all  the  colonist's.  Many  a 
happy  home  was  founded  in  this  way,  and,  so  far  as  we 
know,  there  were  no  divorces  and  no  scandals.  But  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that,  although  tobacco  was  paid 
for  the  wife,  there  was  still  enough  left  to  fill  a  quiet 
pipe  by  the  conjugal  fireside.  They  were  the  first 
Christian  firesides  where  this  soothing  goddess  had 
presided :  no  wonder  they  were  peaceful ! 

Charles  I  was  a  young  man,  with  a  large  responsibil- 
ity on  his  shoulders ;  and  two  leading  convictions  in  his 
mind.  The  first  was  that  he  ought  to  be  the  absolute 
head  of  the  nation;  Parliament  might  take  counsel 
with  him,  but  should  not  control  him  when  it  came  to 
action.  The  same  notion  had  prevailed  with  James  I, 
and  was  to  be  the  immediate  occasion  of  the  downfall 

136 


LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 

of  James  II;  as  for  Charles  II,  his  long  experience  of 
hollow-oak  trees,  and  secret  chambers  in  the  houses  of 
loyalists,  had  taught  him  the  limitations  of  the  kingly 
prerogative  before  he  began  his  reign ;  and  the  severed 
head  of  his  father  clinched  the  lesson.  But  the  Stuarts, 
as  a  family,  were  disinclined  to  believe  that  the  way 
to  inherit  the  earth  was  by  meekness,  and  none  of  them 
believed  it  so  little  as  the  first  Charles. 

The  second  conviction  he  entertained  was  that  he 
must  have  revenues,  and  that  they  should  be  large  and 
promptly  paid.  His  whole  pathetic  career — tragic 
seems  too  strong  a  word  for  it,  though  it  ended  in< 
death — was  a  mingled  story  of  nobility,  falsehood,  gal- 
lantry, and  treachery,  conditioned  by  his  blind  pursuit 
of  these  two  objects,  money  and  power. 

Upon  general  principles,  then,  it  was  to  be  expected 
that  Charles  would  be  the  enemy  of  Virginian  liberties. 
But  it  happened  that  money  was  his  more  pressing  need 
at  the  time  his  attention  first  was  turned  on  the  colony ; 
he  saw  that  revenues  were  to  be  gained  from  them ;  he 
knew  that  the  charter  recently  given  to  them  had  im- 
mensely increased  their  productiveness;  and  as  to  his 
prerogative,  he  had  not  as  yet  felt  the  resistance  which 
his  Parliament  had  in  store  for  him,  and  was  therefore 
not  jealous  of  the  political  privileges  of  a  remote  set- 
tlement— one,  too,  which  seemed  to  be  in  the  hands  of 
loyal  gentlemen.  "Their  liberties  harm  me  not,"  was 
his  thought,  "and  they  appear  to  be  favorable  to  the 
success  of  the  tobacco  crop;  the  tobacco  monopoly  can 
put  money  in  my  purse;  therefore  let  the  liberties  re-- 
main.  Should  these  planters  ever  presume  to  go  too 
far,  it  will  always  be  in  my  power  to  stop  them."  Thus 
it  came  about  that  tobacco,  after  procuring  the  Vir- 
ginians loving  wives,  was  also  the  means  of  securing 
the  favor  of  their  King.  But  they,  naturally,  ascribed 
the  sunshine  of  his  smile  to  some  innate  merit  in  them- 
selves, and  their  gratitude  made  them  his  enthusiastic 
supporters  as  long  as  he  lived.  They  mourned  his  death, 
and  opened  their  arms  to  all  royalist  refugees  from  the 
power  of  Cromwell.  When  Cromwell  sent  over  a  man- 
of-war,  however,  they  accepted  the  situation.  Virginia 

137 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

had  by  that  time  grown  to  so  considerable  an  im- 
portance that  they  could  adopt  a  somewhat  conserva- 
tive attitude  toward  the  affairs  even  of  the  mother 
country. 

The  ten  years  following  Charles's  accession  were  a 
period  of  peace  and  growth  in  the  colony ;  of  great  in- 
crease in  population  and  in  production,  and  of  a  steady 
ripening  of  political  liberties.  But  the  conditions  under 
which  this  development  went  on  were  different  from 
those  which  existed  in  New  England  and  in  New  York. 
The  Puritans  were  actuated  by  religious  ideals,  the 
Dutch  by  commercial  projects  chiefly;  but  the  Vir- 
ginia planters  were  neither  religious  enthusiasts  nor 
tradesmen.  Their  tendency  was  not  to  huddle  together 
in  towns  and  close  communities,  but  to  spread  out  over 
the  broad  and  fertile  miles  of  their  new  country,  and 
live  each  in  a  little  principality  of  his  own,  with  his 
slaves  and  dependents  around  him.  They  modeled  their 
lives  upon  those  of  the  landed  gentry  in  England ;  and 
when  their  crops  were  gathered,  they  did  not  go  down 
to  the  wharfs  and  haggle  over  their  disposal,  but 
handed  them  over  to  agents,  who  took  all  trouble  off 
their  hands,  and  after  deducting  commissions  and 
charges  made  over  to  them  the  net  profits.  This  left 
the  planters  leisure  to  apply  themselves  to  liberal  pur- 
suits; they  maintained  a  dignified  and  generous  hos- 
pitality, and  studied  the  art  of  government.  A  race  of 
gallant  gentlemen  grew  up,  well  educated,  and  con- 
sciously superior  to  the  rest  of  the  population,  who  had 
very  limited  educational  facilities,  and  bnt  little  of 
that  spirit  of  equality  and  independence  whnh  charac- 
terized the  northern  colonies.  Towns  and  cities  came 
slowly;  the  plantation  system  was  more  natural  and 
agreeable  under  the  circumstances.  Orthodoxy  in  re- 
ligion was  the  rule;  and  though  at  first  there  was  a 
tendency  to  eschew  narrowness  and  bigotry,  yet  gradu- 
ally the  church  became  hostile  to  dissenters,  and  Puri- 
tans and  Quakers  were  as  unwelcome  in  Virginia  as 
were  the  latter  in  Massachusetts,  or  Episcopalians  any- 
where in  New  England.  All  this  seems  incompatible 
with  democracy;  and  probably  it  might  in  time  have 

138 


LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 

grown  into  a  liberal  monarchical  system.  The  slaves 
were  not  regarded  as  having  any  rights,  political,  or 
personal;  their  masters  exercised  over  them  the  power 
of  life  and  death,  as  well  as  all  lesser  powers.  The  bulk 
of  the  white  population  was  not  oppressed,  and  was 
able  to  get  a  living,  for  Virginia  was  "the  best  poor 
man's  country  in  the  world";  there  was  little  or  none 
of  the  discontent  that  embarrassed  the  New  Amsterdam 
Patroons;  the  charter  gave  them  representation,  and 
their  manhood  was  not  undermined.  Had  Virginia 
been  an  island,  or  otherwise  isolated,  and  free  from  any 
external  interference,  we  can  imagine  that  the  planters 
might  at  last  have  found  it  expedient  to  choose  a  king 
from  among  their  number,  who  would  have  found  a 
nobility  and  a  proletariat  ready  made. 

But  Virginia  was  not  isolated.  She  was  loyal  to  the 
Stuarts  because  they  did  not  bring  to  bear  upon  her 
the  severities  which  they  inflicted  upon  their  English 
subjects ;  but  when  she  became  a  royal  colony,  and  had 
to  put  up  with  corrupt  and  despotic  favorites  of  the 
monarch,  who  could  do  what  they  pleased  and  were 
responsible  to  nobody  but  the  monarch  who  had  made 
them  governor,  loyalty  began  to  cool.  Moreover,  men 
whose  ability  and  advanced  opinions  made  them  dis- 
tasteful to  the  English  kings,  fled  to  the  colonies,  and 
to  Virginia  among  the  rest,  and  sowed  the  seeds  of 
revolt.  Calamity  makes  strange  bedfellows:  the 
planters  liked  outside  oppression  as  little  as  did  the 
common  people,  and  could  not  but  make  common  cause 
with  them.  The  distance  between  the  two  was  di- 
minished. Social  equality  there  could  hardly  be;  but 
political  and  theoretic  equality  could  be  acknowledged. 
The  English  monarchy  made  the  American  republic; 
spurred  its  indolence,  and  united  its  parts.  Man  left 
to  himself  is  lax  and  indifferent ;  from  first  to  last  it  is 
the  pressure  of  wrong  that  molds  him  into  the  form  of 
right.  George  I  gave  the  victory  to  the  Americans  in 
the  Revolution  as  much  as  Washington  did.  And  before 
George's  time  the  colonies  had  been  keyed  up  to  the 
struggle  by  years  of  injustice  and  outrage.  And  this 
injustice  and  outrage  seemed  the  more  intolerable  be- 

139 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

cause  they  had  been  preceded  by  a  period  of  compara- 
tive liberality.  It  needs  powerful  pressure  to  trans- 
form English  gentlemen  with  loyalist  traditions  and 
sympathies  into  a  democracy;  but  it  can  be  done,  and 
the  English  kings  were  the  men  to  do  it. 

Until  the  period  of  unequivocal  tyranny  arrived,  the 
chief  shadow  upon  the  colony  was  cast  by  its  relations 
with  the  Indians.  Powhatan,  the  father  of  Pocahontas, 
and  chief  over  tribes  whose  domains  extended  over 
thousands  of  square  miles,  kept  friendship  with  the 
whites  till  his  death  in  1618.  His  brother,  Opechankano, 
professed  to  inherit  the  friendship  along  with  the  chief- 
tainship; but  the  relations  between  the  red  men  and 
the  colonists  had  never  been  too  cordial,  and  the  latter, 
measuring  their  muskets  and  breastplates  against  the 
stone  arrows  and  deerskin  shirts  of  the  savages,  fell 
into  the  error  of  despising  them.  The  Indians,  for 
their  part,  stood  in  some  awe  of  firearms,  which  they 
had  never  held  in  their  own  hands,  and  the  penalty  for 
selling  which  to  them  had  been  made  capital  years 
before.  But  they  had  their  own  methods  of  dealing 
with  foes;  and  since  neither  side  had  ever  formally 
come  to  blows,  they  had  received  no  object  lesson  to 
warn  them  to  keep  hands  off.  Opechankano  was  intelli- 
gent and  farseeing;  he  perceived  that  the  whites  were 
increasing  in  numbers,  and  that  if  they  were  not 
checked  betimes  they  would  finally  overrun  the  coun- 
try. But  he  did  not  see  so  far  as  his  brother,  who  had 
known  that  the  final  domination  of  the  English  could 
not  be  prevented,  and  had  therefore  adopted  the  policy 
of  conciliating  them  as  the  best.  Opechankano,  there- 
fore, quietly  planned  the  extermination  of  the  settlers ; 
the  familiar  terms  on  which  the  white  and  red  men 
stood  played  into  his  hands.  Indians  were  in  the  habit 
of  visiting  the  white  settlements  and  mingling  with  the 
people.  Orders  for  concerted  action  were  secretly  cir- 
culated among  the  savages,  who  were  to  hold  them- 
selves ready  for  the  signal. 

It  might,  after  all,  never  have  been  given  but  for  an 
unlooked-for  incident.  A  noisy  and  troublesome  In- 
dian, who  imagined  that  bullets  could  not  kill  him,  fell 

140 


LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 

into  a  quarrel  with  a  settler  and  slew  him,  and  was 
himself  shot  while  attempting  fo  escape  from  arrest. 
"Sooner  shall  the  heavens  fall,"  devoutly  exclaimed 
Opechankano  when  informed  of  this  mishap,  "than  I 
will  break  the  peace  of  Powhatan."  But  the  waiting 
tribes  knew  that  the  time  -had  come. 

On  the  morning  of  March  22,  1622,  the  settlers  arose 
as  usual  to  the  labors  of  the  day;  some  of  them  took 
their  hoes  and  spades  and  went  out  into  the  fields; 
others  busied  themselves  about  their  houses.  Numbers 
of  Indians  were  about,  but  this  excited  no  remark  or 
suspicion;  they  were  not  formidable;  a  dog  could 
frighten  them;  a  child  could  hold  them  in  check. 
Indians  strolled  into  the  cabins  and  sat  at  the  break- 
fast tables.  No  one  gave  them  a  second  thought.  No 
one  looked  over  his  shoulder  when  an  Indian  passed 
behind  him. 

But  miles  up  the  country  from  Jamestown  lived  a 
settler  who  kept  an  Indian  boy,  whom  he  instructed, 
and  who  made  himself  useful  about  the  place;  and  of 
all  the  Indians  in  Virginia  that  day  he  was  the  only 
one  whose  heart  relented.  His  brother  had  lain  with 
him  the  night  before,  and  had  given  him  the  word: 
he  was  to  kill  the  settler  and  his  family  the  next  morn- 
ing. The  boy  seemed  to  assent,  and  the  other  went  on 
his  way.  The  boy  lay  till  dawn,  his  savage  mind 
divided  between  fear  of  the  great  chief  and  compas- 
sion for  the  white  man  who  had  been  kind  to  him  and 
taught  him.  In  the  early  morning  he  arose  and  stood 
beside  his  benefactor's  bed.  The  man  slept:  one  blow 
and  he  would  be  dead.  But  the  boy  did  not  strike; 
he  wakened  him  and  told  him  of  the  horror  that  was 
about  to  befall. 

Pace — such  was  the  settler's  name — did  not  wait  for 
confirmation  of  the  tale ;  indeed,  as  he  ran  to  the  pad- 
dock to  get  hfs  pack  horse,  he  could  see  the  smoke  of 
burning  cabins  rising  in  the  still  air,  and  could  hear, 
far  off,  the  yells  of  the  savages  as  they  plied  their  work. 

He  sprang  on  the  horse's  back,  with  his  musket  across 
the  withers,  and  set  off  at  a  gallop  toward  Jamestown. 
Most  of  the  colonists  lived  in  that  neighborhood;  if  he 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

could  get  there  in  time  many  lives  might  be  saved.  As 
he  rode  he  directed  his  course  to  the  cabins,  on  the  right 
hand  and  on  the  left,  that  lay  in  his  way,  and  gave  the 
alarm.  Many  of  the  savages,  who  had  not  yet  begun 
their  work,  at  once  took  to  flight;  they  would  not  face 
white  men  when  on  their  guard.  In  other  places  the 
warning  came  too  late.  The  missionary,  who  had  de- 
voted his  life  to  teaching  the  heathen  that  men  should 
love  one  another,  was  inhumanly  butchered.  Pace  ar- 
rived in  season  to  avert  the  danger  from  the  bulk  of 
the  little  population;  but,  of  the  four  thousand  scat- 
tered over  the  countryside,  three  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  died  that  morning  with  the  circumstances  of 
hideous  atrocity  which  were  the  invariable  accompani- 
ments of  Indian  massacre.  The  colonists  were  appalled, 
and  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  if  the  purpose  of  Opechan- 
kano  would  be  realized.  Two  thousand  settlers  came 
in  from  the  outlying  districts,  panic-stricken,  and  after 
living  for  a  while  crowded  together  in  unwholesome 
quarters  in  the  vicinity  of  Jamestown,  took  ship  and 
returned  to  England.  Hardly  one  in  ten  of  the  planta- 
tions was  not  deserted.  The  bolder  spirits,  who  re- 
mained, organized  a  war  of  extermination,  in  which 
they  were  supported  and  reenforced  by  the  company, 
who  sent  over  men  and  weapons  as  soon  as  the  news 
was  known  in  England.  But  the  campaign  resolved 
itself  into  long  and  harassing  attacks,  ambuscades,  and 
reprisals,  extending  over  many  years.  There  could  be 
no  pitched  battles  with  Indians;  they  gave  way,  but 
only  to  circumvent  and  surprise.  The  whites  were  re- 
solved to  make  no  peace  and  to  give  no  quarter  to 
man,  woman,  or  child.  The  formerly  peaceful  settle- 
ment became  inured  to  blood  and  cruelty.  But  the  red 
men  could  not  be  wholly  driven  away.  Just  twenty 
years  after  the  first  massacre  the  same  implacable 
chief,  now  a  decrepit  old  man,  planned  a  second  one; 
some  hundreds  were  murdered,  but  the  colonists  were 
readier  and  stronger  now,  and  they  gathered  themselves 
up  at  once  and  inflicted  a  crushing  vengeance.  The 
ancient  chief  was  finally  taken,  and  either  died  of 
wounds  received  in  fight  or  was  slain  by  a  soldier  after 

142 


LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 

capture.  After  1646  the  borders  of  Virginia  were  safe. 
There  is  no  redeeming  feature  in  this  Indian  warfare, 
which  fitfully  survived  in  many  of  the  remote  parts  of 
our  country.  It  aided,  perhaps,  to  train  the  race  of  pio- 
neers and  frontiersmen  who  later  became  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  features  of  our  early  population.  Con- 
tact with  the  savage  races  inoculated  us,  perhaps,  with 
a  touch  of  their  stoicism  and  grimness.  But  in  our 
(Conflicts  with  them  there  was  nothing  noble  or  inspir- 
ing; and  there  could  be  no  object  in  view  on  either  side 
but  extermination.  Our  Indian  fighters  became  as  sav- 
age and  merciless  as  the  creatures  they  pursued.  The 
Indian  must  be  fought  by  the  same  tactics  he  adopts — 
cunning,  stealth,  surprise,  and  then  unrelenting  slaugh- 
ter, with  the  sequel  of  the  scalping  knife.  They  com- 
pel us  to  descend  to  their  level  in  war,  and  we  have 
utterly  failed  to  raise  them  to  our  own  in  peace.  Some 
of  them  have  possessed  certain  harshly  masculine  traits 
which  we  can  admire;  some  of  them  have  showed  broad 
and  virile  intelligence,  the  qualities  of  a  general,  a 
diplomatist,  or  even  of  a  statesman.  There  have  been, 
and  are,  so-called  tame  Indians;  but  such  were  not 
worth  taming.  As  a  whole,  the  red  tribes  have  resisted 
all  attempts  to  lift  them  to  the  civilized  level  and  keep 
them  there.  Roger  Williams  and  the  "apostle,"  John 
Eliot,  were  their  friends,  and  won  their  regard;  but 
neither  Williams's  influence  nor  Eliot's  Bible  left  any 
lasting  trace  upon  them.  The  Indian  is  irreclaimable ; 
disappointment  is  the  very  mildest  result  that  awaits 
the  effort  to  reclaim  him.  He  is  wild  to  the  marrow; 
no  bird  or  beast  is  so  wild  as  he.  He  is  a  human  em- 
bodiment of  the  untrodden  woods,  the  undiscovered 
rivers,  the  austere  mountains,  the  pathless  prairies — 
of  all  those  parts  and  aspects  of  nature  which  are  never 
brought  within  the  smooth  sway  of  civilization,  because, 
as  soon  as  civilization  appears,  they  are,  so  far  as  their 
essential  quality  is  concerned,  gone.  To  hear  the  yelp 
of  the  coyote,  you  must  lie  alone  in  the  sagebrush  near 
the  pool  in  the  hollow  of  the  low  hills  by  moonlight; 
it  will  never  reach  your  ears  through  the  bars  of  the 
menagerie  cage.  To  know  the  mountain.,  you  must  con- 

143 


HISTOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

front  the  avalanche  and  the  precipice  uncompanioned, 
and  stand  at  last  on  the  breathless  and  awful  peak 
which  lifts  itself  and  you  into  a  voiceless  solitude  re- 
mote from  man  and  yet  no  nearer  to  God ;  but  if  you 
journey  with  guides  and  jolly  fellowship  to  some  moun- 
tain house,  ever  so  airily  perched,  you  would  as  well 
visit  a  panorama.  To  comprehend  the  ocean  you  must 
meet  it  in  its  own  inviolable  domain,  where  it  tosses 
heavenward  its  careless  nakedness  and  laughs  with 
death;  from  the  deck  of  a  steamboat  you  will  never 
find  it,  though  you  sail  as  far  as  the  Flying  Dutch- 
man. But  the  solitude  which  nature  reveals,  and  which 
alone  reveals  her,  does  but  prepare  you  for  the  in- 
approachableness  that  shines  out  at  you  from  the 
Indian's  eyes.  Seas  are  shallow  and  continents  but 
a  span  compared  with  the  breadths  and  depths  which 
separate  him  from  you.  The  sphinx  will  yield  her  mys- 
tery, but  he  will  not  unveil  his;  you  may  touch  the 
poles  of  the  planet,  but  you  can  never  lay  your  hand 
on  him.  The  same  God  that  made  you  made  him  also 
in  His  image ;  but  if  you  try  to  bridge  the  gulf  between 
you,  you  will  learn  something  of  God's  infinitude. 

Sir  George  Yeardley  and  Sir  Francis  Wyatt  both 
held  the  office  of  Governor  twice,  and  with  good  repute ; 
in  1630  Sir  John  Harvey  succeeded  the  former.  He 
was  the  champion  of  monopolists ;  he  would  divide  the 
land  among  a  few  and  keep  the  rest  in  subjection.  He 
fought  with  the  Legislature  from  the  first ;  he  could 
not  wring  their  rights  from  them,  but  he  distressed  and 
irritated  the  colony,  levying  arbitrary  fines  and  brow- 
beating all 'and  sundry  with  the  brutality  of  an  un- 
governed  temper.  His  chief  patron  was  Lord  Balti- 
more, a  Eoman  Catholic,  and  therefore  disfavored  by 
the  Protestant  colony,  who  would  not  suffer  him  to 
plant  in  their  domain.  He  bought  a  patent  authorizing 
him  to  establish  a  colony  in  the  northern  part  of  Vir- 
ginia, which  was  afterward  called  Maryland,  being  cut 
off  from  the  older  colony ;  and  this  diminution  of  their 
territory  much  displeased  the  Virginians.  But  Harvey 
supported  him  throughout,  and  permitted  mass  to  be 
said  in  Virginia.  He  likewise  prevented  the  settlers 

144 


LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 

from  carrying  on  the  border  warfare  with  the  Indians, 
lest  it  should  disturb  his  perquisites  from  the  fur  trade. 
Violent  scenes  took  place  in  the  hall  of  Assembly,  and 
hard  words  were  given  and  exchanged;  the  planters 
were  men  of  hot  passions,  and  the  conduct  of  the  Gov- 
ernor became  intolerable  to  them.  Matters  came  to  a 
head  during  the  last  week  in  April  of  1635.  An  un- 
authorized gathering  in  York  complained  of  an  unjust 
tax  and  of  other  malfeasances,  whereupon  Harvey  cried 
mutiny  and  had  the  leaders  arrested.  But  the  boot  was 
on  the  other  leg.  Several  members  of  council,  with 
a  company  of  musketeers  at  their  back,  came  to  his 
house;  Matthews,  with  whom  the  Governor  had  lately 
had  a  fierce  quarrel,  and  the  other  planters,  tramped 
into  the  broad  hall  of  the  dwelling,  with  swords  in 
their  hands  and  threatening  looks,  and  confronted  him. 
John  Utie  brought  down  his  hand  with  staggering  force 
on  his  shoulder,  exclaiming:  "I  arrest  you  for  trea- 
son!" "How,  for  treason?"  queried  the  frightened 
Governor.  "You  have  betrayed  our  forts  to  our  ene- 
mies of  Maryland,"  replied  several  stern  voices.  Har- 
vey glanced  from  one  to  another;  in  the  background 
were  the  musketeers;  plainly  this  was  no  time  for 
trifling.  He  offered  to  do  whatever  they  demanded. 
They  required  the  release  of  prisoners,  which  was 
immediately  done,  and  bade  him  prepare  to  answer 
before  the  Assembly.  They  would  listen  to  no  argu- 
ments and  no  excuses;  he  was  told  by  Matthews,  with 
a  menacing  look,  that  the  people  would  have  none  of 
him.  "You  intend  no  less  than  the  subversion  of  Mary- 
land," protested  Harvey;  but  he  promised  to  return  to 
England,  and  John  West,  who  had  already  acted  as  ad- 
interim  Governor  while  Harvey  was  on  his  way  to  Vir- 
ginia, was  at  once  elected  in  his  place. 

This  incident  showed  of  what  stuff  the  Virginians 
were  made.  It  was  an  early  breaking  out  of  the  Ameri- 
can spirit,  which  would  never  brook  tyranny.  In  offer- 
ing violence  to  the  King's  Governor  they  imperiled  their 
own  lives ;  but  their  blood  was  up,  and  they  heeded  no 
danger.  When  Harvey  presented  himself  before  Charles 
at  the  privy  council,  his  Majesty  remarked  that  he  must 

145 


HISTOEY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

be  sent  back  at  all  hazards,  because  the  sending  him 
to  England  had  been  an  assumption  on  the  colonists' 
part  of  regal  power;  and,  tobacco  or  no  tobacco,  the 
line  must  be  drawn  there.  If  the  charges  against  him 
were  sustained,  he  might  stay  but  a  day;  if  not,  his 
tetm  should  be  extended  beyond  the  original  commis- 
sion. A  new  commission  was  given  him,  and  back  he 
went;  but  this  shuttlecock  experience  seems  to  have 
quelled  his  spirit,  and  we  hear  no  more  of  quarrels 
with  the  Virginia  council.  Wyatt  relieved  him  in  1639; 
and  in  1642  came  Sir  William  Berkeley.  This  man,  who 
was  born  about  the  beginning  of  the  century,  was  twice 
Governor ;  his  present  term,  lasting  ten  years,  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  nine  years'  interval;  reappointed  again  in 
1660,  he  was  in  power  when  the  rebellion  broke  out 
which  was  led  by  Nathaniel  Bacon.  Little  is  known  of 
him  outside  of  his  American  record ;  in  his  first  term, 
under  Charles  I,  he  acted  simply  as  the  creature  of  that 
monarch,  and  aroused  no  special  animosities  on  his 
own  account:  during  the  reign  of  Cromwell  he  disap- 
peared; but  when  Charles  II  ascended  the  throne, 
Berkeley,  though  then  an  old  man,  was  thought  to  be 
fitted  by  his  previous  experience  for  the  Virginia  post, 
and  was  returned  thither.  But  years  seemed  to  have 
soured  his  disposition,  and  lessened  his  prudence,  and, 
as  we  shall  see,  his  bloodthirsty  conduct  after  Bacon's 
death  was  the  occasion  of  his  recall  in  disgrace;  and 
he  died,  like  Aiidros  more  than  half  a  century  later, 
with  the  curse  of  a  people  on  his  grave. 

But  his  first  appearance  was  auspicious;  he  brought 
instructions  designed  to  increase  the  reign  of  law  and 
order  in  the  colony,  without  infringing  upon  its  exist- 
ing liberties.  Allegiance  to  God  and  the  King  were  en- 
joined, additional  courts  wTere  provided  for,  traffic  with 
the  Indians  was  regulated,  annual  assemblies,  with  a 
negative  voice  upon  their  acts  by  the  governor,  were 
commanded.  The  only  discordant  note  in  the  instruc- 
tions referred  to  the  conditions  of  maritime  trade, 
afterward  known  in  history  as  the  Navigation  Acts. 
The  colony  desired  free  trade,  which,  as  it  had  no  manu- 
factures, was  obviously  to  its  benefit.  But  it  was  as 

146 


LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 

obviously  to  the  interest  of  the  King  that  he  alone 
should  enjoy  the  right  of  controlling  all  imports  into 
the  colony,  and  absorbing  all  its  exports;  and  his  rul- 
ings were  framed  to  secure  that  end.  But  for  the  pres- 
ent the  acts  were  not  carried  into  effect;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  prospect  was  held  out  that  there  should 
be  no  taxation  except  what  was  voted  by  the  peo- 
ple themselves;  and  their  contention  that  they,  who 
knew  the  conditions  and  needs  of  their  colonial  ex- 
istence, were  better  able  to  regulate  it  than  those  at 
home,  was  allowed.  By  way  of  evincing  their  recogni- 
tion of  this  courtesy,  the  Assembly  passed,  among  other 
laws,  one  against  toleration  of  any  other  than  the  Epis- 
copalian form  of  worship;  and  when  Charles  was  be- 
headed, in  1649,  it  voted  to  retain  Berkeley  in  office. 
But  when,  in  the  next  year,  the  fugitive  son  of  the  dead 
King  undertook  to  issue  a  commission  confirming  him 
in  his  place,  Parliament  intervened.  Virginia  was 
brought  to  her  bearings;  and  the  Navigation  Acts  were 
brought  up  again.  Cromwell,  no  less  than  Charles,  ap- 
preciated the  advantages  of  a  monopoly. 

Restrictions  on  commerce,  first  imposed  by  Spain, 
were  first  resisted  by  the  Dutch,  with  the  result  of 
rendering  them  the  leading  maritime  power.  Cromwell 
wished  to  appropriate  or  share  this  advantage;  but  in- 
stead of  adopting  the  means  employed  for  that  purpose 
by  the  Dutch,  he  decreed  that  none  but  English  ships 
should  trade  with  the  English  colonies,  and  that  for- 
eign ships  should  bring  to  England  only  the  products 
of  their  own  countries.  The  restriction  did  little  harm 
to  Virginia  so  long  as  England  was  able  to  take  all 
her  products  and  to  supply  all  her  needs ;  but  it  brought 
on  war  with  Holland,  in  which  both  the  moral  and  the 
naval  advantage  was  on  the  side  of  the  Dutch.  But 
England  acquired  a  foothold  in  the  West  Indies,  and 
her  policy  was  maintained.  Virginia  asked  that  she 
should  have  representatives  to  act  for  her  in  England, 
and  when  a  body  of  commissioners  was  appointed  to 
examine  colonial  questions,  among  them  were  Richard 
Bennett  and  William  Clayborne,  both  of  them  colo- 
nists, and  men  of  force  and  ability.  In  the  sequel  the 

147 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

liberties  of  the  colony  were  enlarged,  and  Bennett  was 
made  Governor  by  vote  of  the  Assembly  itself,  which 
continued  to  elect  governors  during  the  ascendancy  of 
Parliament  in  England.  When  Richard  Cromwell,  who 
had  succeeded  the  great  Protector,  resigned  his  office, 
the  Virginia  burgesses  chose  Sir  William  Berkeley  to 
rule  over  them,  and  he  acknowledged  their  authority. 
Meanwhile  the  Navigation  Acts  were  so  little  enforced 
that  smuggling  was  hardly  illegal;  and  in  1658  the 
colonists  actually  invited  foreign  nations  to  deal  with 
them.  This  was  the  period  of  Virginia's  greatest  free- 
dom before  the  Revolution.  The  suffrage  was  in  the 
hands  of  all  taxpayers ;  in  religious  matters  all  restric- 
tions except  those  against  the  Quakers  were  removed; 
loyalists  and  Roundheads  mingled  amicably  in  plant- 
ing and  legislation,  and  the  differences  which  had 
arrayed  them  against  one  another  in  England  were 
forgotten.  The  population  increased  to  thirty  thou- 
sand, and  the  inhabitants  developed  among  themselves 
an  ardent  patriotism.  It  is  not  surprising.  Their 
country  was  one  of  the  richest  and  loveliest  in  the 
world ;  everything  which  impairs  the  enjoyment  of  life 
was  eliminated  or  minimized;  hucksters,  pettifoggers, 
and  bigots  were  scarce  as  June  snowflakes ;  indentured 
servants,  on  their  emancipation,  were  speedily  given 
the  suffrage ;  it  might  almost  be  said  that  a  man  might 
do  whatever  he  pleased  within  the  limits  of  criminal 
law.  Assuredly,  personal  liberty  was  far  greater  at 
this  epoch  in  Virginia  than  it  is  to-day  in  New  York 
City  or  Chicago.  The  instinct  of  the  Virginians,  in 
matters  of  governing,  was  so  far  as  possible  to  let 
themselves  alone ;  the  planters,  in  the  seclusion  of  their 
estates,  were  practically  subject  to  no  law  but  their 
own  pleasure.  There  was  probably  no  place  in  the 
civilized  world  where  so  much  intelligent  happiness 
was  to  be  had  as  in  Virginia  during  the  years  imme- 
diately preceding  the  Restoration. 

What  would  have  been  the  political  result  had  the 
absence  of  all  artificial  pressure  indefinitely  continued  ? 
Two  tendencies  were  observable,  working,  apparently, 
in  opposite  directions.  On  one  side  were  the  planters, 

148 


LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 

many  of  them  aristocratic  by  origin  as  well  as  by  cir- 
cumstance ;  who  lived  in  affluence,  were  friendly  to  the 
established  church,  enjoyed  a  liberal  education,  and 
naturally  assumed  the  reins  of  power.  The  law  which 
gave  fifty  acres  of  land  to  the  settler  who  imported  an 
emigrant,  while  it  made  for  the  enlargement  of  estates, 
created  also  a  large  number  of  tenants  and  depend- 
ents who  would  be  likely  to  support  their  patrons  and 
proprietors,  who  exercised  so  much  control  over  their 
welfare.  These  dependents  found  the  conditions  of 
existence  comfortable,  and  even  after  they  had  become 
their  own  masters,  they  would  be  likely  to  consult  the 
wishes  of  the  men  who  had  been  the  occasion  of  their 
good  fortune.  Neither  education  nor  religious  instruc- 
tion were  so  readily  obtainable  as  to  threaten  to  render 
such  a  class  discontented  with  their  condition  by  open- 
ing to  them  hitherto  unknown  gates  of  advantage ;  and 
the  suffrage,  when  by  ownership  of  private  property 
they  had  qualified  themselves  to  exercise  it,  would  at 
once  appease  their  independent  instincts,  and  at  the 
same  time  make  them  willing,  in  using  it,  to  follow  the 
lead  or  suggestion  of  men  so  superior  to  them  in  intelli- 
gence and  in  political  sagacity.  From  this  stand- 
point, then,  it  seemed  probable  that  a  self-governing 
community  of  the  special  kind  existing  in  Virginia 
would  drift  toward  an  aristocratic  form  of  rule. 

But  the  matter  could  be  regarded  in  another  way. 
Free  suffrage  is  a  power  having  a  principle  of  life 
within  itself ;  it  creates  in  the  mind  that  which  did  not 
before  exist,  and  educates  its  possessor  first  by  prompt- 
ing him  to  ask  himself  of  what  improvement  his  condi- 
tion is  susceptible,  and  then  by  forcing  him  to  review 
his  desire  by  the  light  of  its  realization — by  practical 
experience  of  its  effects,  in  other  words:  a  method 
whose  teachings  are  more  thorough  and  convincing 
than  any  school  or  college  is  able  to  supply.  The  use 
of  the  ballot,  in  short,  as  a  means  of  instruction  in 
the  problems  of  government,  takes  the  place  of  anything 
else ;  it  will  of  itself  build  up  a  people  both  capable  of 
conducting  their  own  affairs,  and  resolved  to  do  so. 
The  plebeians  of  Virginia,  therefore,  who  began  by 

149 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

being  poor  and  ignorant  emigrants,  or  indentured  serv- 
ants, to  whom  the  planters  accorded  such  privileges 
because  it  had  never  occurred  to  them  that  a  plebeian 
can  ever  become  anything  else — these  men,  uncon- 
sciously to  themselves  perhaps,  were  on  the  road  which 
leads  to  democracy.  The  time  would  come  when  they 
would  cease  to  follow  the  lead  of  the  planters;  when 
their  interests  and  the  planters'  would  clash.  In  that 
collision  their  numbers  would  give  them  the  victory. 
With  a  similar  community  planted  in  the  old  world, 
such  might  not  be  the  issue;  the  strong  influence  of 
tradition  would  combat  it,  and  the  surrounding  pres- 
sure of  settled  countries,  which  offered  no  escape  or 
asylum  for  the  man  of  radical  ideas.  But  the  bound- 
aries of  Virginia  were  the  untrammeled  wilderness; 
any  man  who  could  not  have  his  will  in  the  colony  had 
this  limitless  expanse  at  his  disposal;  there  could  be 
no  finality  for  him  in  the  decrees  of  assemblies  if  he 
possessed  the  courage  of  his  convictions  in  sufficient 
measure  to  make  him  match  himself  against  the  red 
man,  and  be  independent  not  only  of  any  special  form 
of  society,  but  of  society  itself.  The  consciousness  of 
this  would  hearten  him  to  entertain  free  thoughts  and 
to  strive  for  their  embodiment.  It  was  partly  this,  no 
doubt,  which,  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  drove  hun- 
dreds of  Ishmaels  into  the  interior,  where  they  became 
the  Daniel  Boones  and  the  Davy  Crocketts  of  legend 
and  romance.  So,  although  Virginia  was  as  little 
likely  as  any  of  the  colonies  to  breed  a  democracy,  yet 
even  there  it  was  a  more  than  possible  outcome  of  the 
situation,  even  with  no  outside  stimulus.  But  the  old 
world,  because  it  desired  the  oppression  of  America, 
was  to  become  the  immediate  agent  of  its  emancipation. 
There  was  rejoicing  in  Virginia  when  Charles  II 
acceded  to  power;  on  the  part  of  the  planters,  because 
they  saw  opportunity  for  political  distinction;  on  the 
part  of  the  plebeians,  as  the  expression  of  a  loyalty  to 
kingship  which  centuries  had  made  instinctive  in  them. 
Berkeley,  putting  himself  in  line  with  the  predominant 
feeling,  summoned  the  Assembly  in  the  name  of  the 
King,  thus  announcing  without  rebuke  the  termination 

150 


LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 

of  the  era  of  self-government.  The  members  who  were 
elected  were  mostly  royalists.  They  met  in  1661.  It 
was  found  that  the  Navigation  Acts,  which  had  been 
a  dead  letter  ever  since  their  passage,  were  to  be  revived 
in  full  force;  and  the  increase  of  the  colony  in  the 
meanwhile  made  them  more  than  ever  unwelcome.  The 
exports  were  'much  larger  than  before,  and  unless  the 
colony  could  have  a  free  market  for  them  the  profits 
must  be  materially  lessened.  And  again,  since  England 
was  the  only  country  from  which  the  Virginian  could 
purchase  supplies,  her  merchants  could  charge  him 
what  they  pleased.  This  was  galling  alike  to  royalists 
and  Roundheads  in  Virginia,  and  quickly  healed  the 
breach,  such  as  it  was,  between  the  parties.  Charles's 
true  policy  would  have  been  to  widen  the  gulf  between 
them ;  instead  of  that  he  forced  them  into  each  other's 
arms.  It  was  determined  to  send  Berkeley  to  England 
to  ask  relief;  he  accepted  the  commission,  but  his  sym- 
pathies were  not  with  the  colonists,  and  he  obtained 
nothing.  Evidently  there  could  be  no  relief  but  in 
independence,  and  it  was  still  a  hundred  years  too  early 
for  that.  The  exasperation  which  this  state  of  things 
produced  in  the  great  land  owners  did  more  for  the 
cause  of  democracy  than  could  decades  of  peaceful  evo- 
lution. But  the  colonists  could  no  longer  have  things 
their  own  way.  Liberal  laws  were  repealed,  and  intol- 
erance and  oppression  took  their  place.  Heretics  were 
persecuted;  the  power  of  the  church  in  civil  affairs 
was  increased ;  and  fines  and  taxes  on  the  industry  of 
the  colony  were  wanton  and  excessive.  The  King  of 
England  directly  ruled  Virginia.  The  people  were 
forced  to  pay  Berkeley  a  thousand  pounds  sterling  as 
his  salary,  and  he  declared  he  ought  to  get  three  times 
as  much  even  as  that.  His  true  character  was  begin 
ning  to  appear.  The  judges  were  appointed  by  the 
King,  and  the  license  thus  given  them  resulted  in  a 
petty  despotism;  when  an  official  wanted  money  he 
caused  a  tax  to  be  levied  for  the  amount.  Appeals  were 
vain,  and  ere  long  were  prohibited.  The  Assembly,  par- 
tisans of  the  King,  declared  themselves  permanent,  so 
that  all  chance  for  the  people  to  be  better  represented 

151 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

was  gone,  and  as  the  members  fixed  their  own  pay,  and 
fixed  it  at  a  preposterous  figure,  the  colony  began  to 
groan  in  earnest.  But  worse  was  to  come.  The  suf- 
frage was  restricted  to  freeholders  and  householders, 
and  at  a  stroke  all  but  a  fraction  of  the  colonists  were 
deprived  of  any  voice  in  their  own  government.  The 
spread  of  education,  never  adequate,  was  stopped  alto- 
gether. "I  thank  God  there  are  no  free  schools  nor 
printing,"  Sir  William  Berkeley  was  able  to  say,  "and 
I  hope  we  shall  not  have,  these  hundred  years;  for 
learning  has  brought  disobedience  and  heresy  and  sects 
into  the  world,  and  printing  has  divulged  them,  and 
libels  against  the  best  government.  God  keep  us  from 
both !"  This  was  a  succinct  and  full  formulation  of  the 
spirit  which  has  ever  tended  to  make  the  earth  a  hell 
for  its  inhabitants.  "The  ministers,"  added  the  Gov- 
ernor, "should  pray  oftener  and  preach  less."  But  he 
spoke  in  all  solemnity;  there  was  not  the  ghost  of  a 
sense  of  humor  in  his  whole  insufferable  carcass. 

The  downward  course  was  not  to  stop  here.  Charles, 
with  the  freehandedness  of  a  highwayman,  presented 
two  of  his  favorites  in  1673,  for  a  term  of  one  and  thirty 
years,  with  the  entire  colony!  This  act  stirred  even 
the  soddenness  of  the  Legislature.  At  the  time  of  their 
election,  a  dozen  years  before,  they  had  been  royalists 
indeed,  but  men  of  honor,  intending  the  good  of  the 
colony;  and  had  tried,  as  we  saw,  to  stop  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  Navigation  Acts.  But  when  they  dis- 
covered that  they  could  continue  themselves  in  office 
indefinitely,  with  such  salary  as  they  chose  to  demand, 
they  soon  became  indifferent  about  the  Navigation 
Acts  or  anything  else  which  respected  the  welfare  and 
happiness  of  their  fellows.  Let  the  common  folk  do 
the  work  and  the  better  sort  enjoy  the  proceeds:  that 
was  the  true  and  only  respectable  arrangement.  We 
may  say  that  it  sounds  like  a  return  to  the  Dark  Ages ; 
but  perhaps  if  we  enter  into  our  closets  and  question 
ourselves  closely,  we  shall  find  that  precisely  the  same 
principles  for  which  Berkeley  and  his  Assembly  stood 
in  1673  are  both  avowed  and  carried  into  effect  in  this 
same  country,  in  the  very  year  of  grace  which  is  now 

"152 


LIBERTY,  SLAVERY,  AND  TYRANNY 

passing  over  us.  A  nation,  even  in  America,  takes  a 
great  deal  of  teaching. 

But  the  generosity  of  Charles  startled  the  Assembly 
out  of  their  porcine  indifference,  for  it  threatened  to 
bring  to  bear  upon  them  the  same  practices  by  which 
they  had  destroyed  the  happiness  of  the  colony.  If  the 
King  had  given  over  to  these  two  men  all  sovereignty 
in  Virginia,  what  was  to  prevent  these  gentlemen  from 
dissolving  the  Assembly,  who  had  become,  as  it  were, 
incorporate  with  their  seats,  and  had  hoped  to  die  in 
them — and  ruling  the  country  and  them  without  any 
legislative  medium  whatever?  Accordingly,  with  grunt- 
ings  of  dismay,  they  chose  three  agents  to  sail  forth- 
with to  England  and  expostulate  with  the  merry 
monarch.  The  expostulation  was  couched  in  the  most 
servile  terms,  as  of  men  who  love  to  be  kicked,  but 
hope  to  live,  if  only  to  be  kicked  again.  Might  the 
colony,  they  concluded,  be  permitted  to  buy  itself  out 
of  the  hands  of  its  new  owners,  at  their  own  price? 
And  might  the  people  of  Virginia  be  free  from  any  tax 
not  approved  by  their  Assembly?  That  was  the  sum 
of  their  petition. 

The  King  let  his  lawyers  talk  over  the  matter,  and 
when  they  reported  favorably,  good-naturedly  said: 
"So  let  it  be  then!"  and  permitted  a  charter  to  be 
drawn  up.  But  before  the  broad  seal  could  be  affixed 
to  it  he  altered  his  mind,  for  causes  satisfactory  to 
him,  and  the  envoys  were  sent  home,  poorer  than  they 
came.  But  before  relating  what  awaited  them  there 
we  must  advert  briefly  to  the  doings  of  George  Calvert, 
Lord  Baltimore  in  the  Irish  peerage,  in  his  new  coun- 
try of  Maryland. 


153 


CHAPTER  VI 

CATHOLIC,  PHILOSOPHER,  AND  REBEL 

THE  first  Lord  Baltimore,  whose  family  name  was 
Calvert,  was  a  Yorkshireman,  born  at  the  town 
of  Kipling  in  1580.  He  entered  Parliament  in  his 
thirtieth  year,  and  was  James's  Secretary  of  State  ten 
years  later.  He  was  a  man  of  large,  tranquil  nature, 
philosophic,  charitable,  loving  peace ;  but  these  qualities 
were  fused  by  a  concrete  tendency  of  thought,  which 
made  him  a  man  of  action,  and  determined  that  action 
in  the  direction  of  practical  schemes  of  benevolence. 
The  contemporary  interest  in  America  as  a  possible 
arena  of  enterprise  and  Mecca  of  religious  and  political 
dissenters  attracted  his  sympathetic  attention;  and 
when,  in  1625,  being  then  five  and  forty  years  of  age, 
he  found  in  the  Roman  Catholic  communion  a  refuge 
from  the  clamor  of  warring  sects,  and  as  an  immediate 
consequence  tendered  his  resignation  as  secretary  to 
the  head  of  the  Church  of  England,  he  found  himself 
with  leisure  to  put  his  designs  in  execution.  He  had, 
upon  his  conversion,  been  raised  to  the  rank  of  Baron 
Baltimore  in  the  peerage  of  Ireland;  and  his  change 
of  faith  in  no  degree  forfeited  him  the  favor  of  the  King. 
When,  therefore,  he  asked  for  a  charter  to  found  a 
colony  in  Avalon,  in  Newfoundland,  it  was  at  once 
granted,  and  the  colony  was  sent  out;  but  his  visits 
to  it  in  1G27  and  1G29  convinced  him  that  the  climate 
was  too  inclement  for  his  purposes,  and  he  requested 
that  it  might  be  transferred  to  the  northern  parts  of 
Virginia,  which  he  had  visited  on  his  way  to  England. 
This,  too,  was  permitted ;  but  before  the  new  charter 
had  been  sealed  Lord  Baltimore  died.  The  patent  there- 
upon passed  to  his  sou  Cecil,  who  was  also  a  Catho- 
lic. He  devoted  his  life  to  carrying  out  his  father's 
designs.  The  characters  of  the  two  men  were,  in  their 

154 


CATHOLIC,  PHILOSOPHER,  AND  REBEL 

larger  elements,  not  dissimilar;  and  the  sequel  showed 
that  colonial  enterprise  could  be  better  achieved  by  one 
man  of  kindly  and  liberal  disposition,  and  persistent 
resolve,  than  by  a  corporation,  some  of  whose  members 
were  sure  to  thwart  the  wishes  of  others.  Conditions 
of  wider  scope  than  the  settlement  of  Maryland  ob- 
structed and  delayed  its  proprietor's  plans;  conflicts 
and  changes  of  government  in  England,  and  jealousy 
and  violence  on  the  part  of  Virginia,  had  their  influ- 
ence; but  this  quiet,  benign,  resolute  young  man  (who 
was  but  seven  and  twenty  when  the  grant  made  him 
sovereign  of  a  kingdom)  never  lost  his  temper  or 
swerved  from  his  aim:  overcame,  apparently  without 
an  effort,  the  disabilities  which  might  have  been  ex- 
pected to  hamper  the  professor  of  a  faith  as  little  con- 
sonant with  the  creed  of  the  two  Charleses  as  of  Crom- 
well; was  as  well  regarded,  politically,  by  cavaliers  as 
by  Roundheads;  and  finally  established  his  ownership 
and  control  of  his  heritage,  and,  after  a  beneficent  rule 
of  over  forty  years,  died  in  peace  and  honor  with  his 
people  and  the  world.  ,  The  story  of  colonial  Maryland 
has  a  flavor  of  its  own,  and  throws  still  further  light 
on  the  subject  of  popular  self-government — the  source 
and  solution  of  American  history. 

The  idea  of  the  Baltimores,  as  outlined  in  their 
charter  and  followed  in  their  practice,  was  to  try  the 
experiment  of  a  democratic  monarchy.  They  would 
found  a  state  the  people  of  which  should  enjoy  all 
the  freedom  of  action  and  thought  that  sane  and  well- 
disposed  persons  can  desire  within  the  boundaries  of 
their  personal  concerns;  they  should  not  be  meddled 
with;  each  man's  home  should  be  his  castle;  they 
should  say  what  taxes  should  be  collected  and  what 
civil  officers  should  attend  to  their  collective  affairs. 
They  should  be  like  passengers  on  a  ship,  free  to  sleep 
or  wake,  sit  or  walk,  speak  or  be  mute,  eat  or  fast,  as 
they  pleased:  do  anything,  in  fact,  except  scuttle  the 
ship  or  cut  the  rigging — or  ordain  to  what  port  she 
should  steer  or  what  course  the  helmsman  should  lay. 
Matters  of  high  policy,  in  other  words,  should  be  the 

155 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

care  of  the  proprietor;  everything  less  than  that, 
broadly  speaking,  should  be  left  to  the  colonists  them- 
selves. The  proprietor  could  not  get  as  close  to  their 
personal  needs  as  they  could:  and  they,  preoccupied 
with  private  needs,  could  not  see  so  far  and  wide  as 
he  could.  If,  then,  it  were  arranged  that  they  should 
be  afforded  every  facility  and  encouragement  to  make 
their  wants  known,  and  if  it  were  guaranteed  that  he 
would  adopt  every  means  that  experience,  wisdom,  and 
good  will  suggested  to  gratify  those  wants,  what  more 
could  mortal  man  ask?  There  was  nothing  abnormal 
in  the  idea.  The  principle  is  the  same  as  that  on  which 
the  Creator  has  placed  man  in  nature :  man  is  perfectly 
at  liberty  tq  do  as  he  pleases,  only  he  must  adapt  him- 
self to  the  law  of  gravitation,  to  the  resistance  of  mat- 
ter, to  hot  and  cold,  wet  and  dry,  and  to  the  other 
impersonal  necessities  by  which  the  material  universe 
is  conditioned.  The  control  of  these  natural  laws,  as 
they  are  called,  could  not  advantageously  be  given  in 
charge  to  man ;  even  had  he  the  brains  to  manage  them, 
he  could  not  spare  the  time  from  his  immediate  con- 
cerns. He  is  well  content,  accordingly,  to  leave  them 
to  the  power  that  put  him  where  he  is;  and  he  does 
not  feel  his  independence  infringed  upon  in  so  doing. 
When  his  little  business  goes  wrong,  however,  he  can 
petition  his  Creator  to  help  him  out ;  or,  what  amounts 
to  the  same  thing,  he  can  find  out  in  what  respect  he 
has  failed  to  conform  to  the  laws  of  nature,  and,  by 
returning  into  harmony  with  them,  insure  himself  suc- 
cess. What  the  Creator  was  to  mankind  at  large,  Lord 
Baltimore  proposed  to  be  to  his  colony;  and,  follow- 
ing this  supreme  example  and  binding  himself  to  place 
the  welfare  of  his  people  before  all  other  considera- 
tions, how  could  he  make  a  mistake? 

In  arguments  about  the  best  ways  of  managing  na- 
tions or  communities  it  has  been  generally  conceded 
that  this  scheme  of  an  executive  head  on  one  side  and 
a  people  freely  communicating  their  wants  to  him  on 
the  other  is  sound,  provided,  first,  that  he  is  as  solici- 
tous about  their  welfare  as  they  themselves  are;  and. 

156 


secondly,  that  means  exist  for  continuous  and  un- 
checked intercommunication  between  them  and  him — 
it  being  premised,  of  course,  that  the  ability  of  the 
head  is  commensurate  with  his  willingness.  And  leav- 
ing basic  principles  for  the  moment  aside,  it  is  notori- 
ous that  one-man  power  is  far  prompter, 'weightier, 
and  cleaner  cut  than  the  confused  and  incomplete  com- 
promises of  a  body  of  representatives  are  apt  to  be. 

All  this  may  be  conceded.  And  yet  experience  shows 
that  the  one-man  system,  even  when  the  man  is  a  Lord 
Baltimore,  is  unsatisfactory.  Lord  Baltimore,  indeed, 
finally  achieved  a  technical  success;  his  people  loved 
and  honored  him,  his  wishes  were  measurably  realized, 
add,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  Maryland  was  the  vic- 
tim of  fewer  mistakes  than  were  the  other  colonies. 
But  the  fact  that  Lord  Baltimore's  career  closed  in 
paace  and  credit  was  due  less  to  what  he  did  and  de- 
sired than  to  the  necessity  his  career  was  under  of 
sooner  or  later  coming  to  a  close.  Had  he  possessed 
a  hundred  times  the  ability  and  benevolence  that  were 
his,  and  had  been  immortal  into  the  bargain,  the  people 
would  have  cast  him  out ;  they  were  willing  to  tolerate 
him  for  a  few  years  more  or  less,  but  as  a  fixture — No ! 
"Tolerate"  is  too  harsh  a  word*  but  another  might  be 
too  weak.  The  truth  is,  men  do  not  care  half  so  much 
what  they  get  as  how  they  get  it.  The  wolf  in  ^Esop's 
fable  keenly  wanted  a  share  of  the  bones  which  made 
his  friend  the  mastiff  so  sleek;  but  the  hint  that  the 
bones  and  the  collar  went  together  drove  him  hungry 
but  free  back  to  his  desert.  It  is  of  no  avail  to  give 
a  man  all  he  asks  for;  he  resents  having  to  ask  you 
for  it,  and  wants  to  know  by  what  right  you  have  it 
to  give.  A  man  can  be  grateful  for  friendship,  for  a 
sympathetic  look,  for  a  brave  word  spoken  in  his  behalf 
against  odds — he  can  be  your  debtor  for  such  things 
and  keep  his  manhood  uncompromised.  But  if  you 
give  him  food  and  ease,  or  preferment  and  condescen- 
sion therewith,  look  for  no  thanks  from  him;  esteem 
yourself  fortunate  if  he  do  not  hold  you  his  enemy. 
The  gifts  of  the  soul  are  free,  but  material  benefits  are 
captivity.  So  the  Maryland  colonists,  recognizing  that 

157 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

their  proprietor  meant  well,  forgave  him  his  generosity 
and  his  activities  in  their  behalf — but  only  because  they 
knew  that  his  day  would  presently  be  past.  Man  is 
infinite  as  well  as  finite:  infinite  in  his  claims,  finite 
in  his  power  of  giving.  And  for  Baltimore  to  presume 
to  give  the  people  all  they  claimed  was  as  much  as  to 
say  that  his  fullness  could  equal  their  want,  or  that 
his  rights  and  capacities  were  more  than  theirs.  He 
gave  them  all  that  a  democracy  can  possess — except 
the  one  thing  that  constitutes  a  democracy;  that  is, 
absolute  self -direction.  It  may  well  be  that  their  little 
ship  of  state,  steered  by  themselves,  would  have  en- 
countered many  mishaps  from  which  his  sagacious 
guidance  preserved  it.  But  rather  rocks  with  their 
pilotage  than  port  with  his ;  and  beyond  forgiving  him, 
their  magnanimity  could  not  go. 

There  is  little  more  than  this  to  be  derived  from 
study  of  the  Maryland  experiment.  Let  a  man  manage 
himself,  in  big  as  well  as  in  little  things,  and  he  will 
be  happy  on  raw  clams  and  plain  water,  with  a  snow- 
drift for  a  pillow — as  we  saw  him  happy  in  Plymouth 
Bay;  but  give  him  roast  ortolans  and  silken  raiment, 
and  manage  him  ever  so  little,  anji  you  cannot  relieve 
his  discontent.  And  is  it  not  well  that  it  should  be  so? 
Verily  it  is — if  America  be  not  a  dream  and  immortal- 
ity a  delusion. 

Lord  Baltimore  would  perhaps  have  liked  to  see  all 
his  colonists  Catholics;  but  his  experience  of  religious 
intolerance  had  not  inflamed  him  against  other  creeds 
than  his  own,  as  would  have  been  the  case  with  a 
Spaniard ;  it  seemed  to  awaken  a  desire  to  set  tolerance 
an  example.  Anyone  might  join  his  community  except 
felons  and  atheists ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  his  assort- 
ment of  colonists  soon  became  as  motley  as  that  of 
Williams  in  Providence.  The  landing  of  the  first  ex- 
pedition on  an  island  in  the  Potomac  was  attended  by 
the  making  and  erecting  by  the  Jesuit  priests  of  a  rude 
cross  and  the  celebration  of  mass ;  but  there  were  even 
then  more  Protestants  than  Catholics  in  the  party; 
and  though  the  leadership  was  Catholic  for  many  years, 
it  was  not  on  account  of  the  numerical  majority  of 

158 


CATHOLIC,    PHILOSOPHER,    AND    REBEL 

persons  of  that  faith.  Episcopalians  ejected  from 
New  England,  Puritans  fleeing  from  the  old  country, 
Quakers  and  Anabaptists  who  were  unwelcome  every- 
where else,  met  with  hospitality  in  Maryland.  Let 
them  but  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  all  else  was  for- 
given them.  Nevertheless,  Catholicism  was  the  reli- 
gion of  the  country.  Its  inhabitants  might  be  likened 
to  promiscuous  guests  at  an  inn  whose  landlord  made 
no  criticisms  on  their  beliefs  further  than  to  inscribe 
the  Papal  insignia  on  the  signboard  over  his  door. 
Thus  liberty  was  discriminated  from  license,  and  in 
the  midst  of  tolerance  there  was  order. 

The  first  settlement  was  made  on  a  small  creek  enter- 
ing the  north  side  of  the  Potomac.  Here  an  Indian 
village  already  existed ;  but  its  occupants  were  on  the 
point  of  deserting  it,  and  were  glad  to  accept  payment 
from  the  colonists  for  the  site  which  they  had  no  fur- 
ther use  for.  On  the  other  hand  the  colonists  could 
avail  themselves  of  the  wigwams  just  as  'they  stood, 
and  had  their  maize  fields  ready  cleared.  Baltimore, 
meanwhile,  through  his  agent  (and  brother),  Leonard 
Calvert,  furnished  them  with  all  the  equipment  they 
needed ;  and  so  well  was  the  way  smoothed  before  them 
that  the  colony  made  progress  ten  times  as  rapidly  as 
Virginia  had  done.  They  called  their  new  home  S<. 
Mary's;  and  the  date  of  its  occupation  was  1634.  Their 
first  popular  Assembly  met  for  legislation  in  the  second 
month  of  the  ensuing  year.  In  that  and  subsequent 
meetings  they  asserted  their  right  of  jurisdiction,  their 
right  to  enact  laws,  the  freedom  of  "holy  church":  his 
lordship  gently  giving  them  their  head.  In  1642,  per- 
haps to  disburden  themselves  of  some  of  their  obliga- 
tion to  him,  they  voted  him  a  subsidy.  Almost  the 
only  definite  privilege  which  he  seems  to  have  retained 
was  that  of  preemption  of  lands.  At  this  period  (1643) 
all  England  was  by  the  ears,  and  Baltimore's  hold 
upon  his  colony  was  relaxed.  In  Virginia  and  the 
other  colonies,  which  had  governors  of  their  own,  the 
neglect  of  the  mother  country  gave  them  opportunity 
for  progress;  but  the  people  of  Maryland,  no  longer 
feeling  the  sway  of  their  nonresident  proprietor,  and 
i  159 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

having  no  one  else  to  look  after  them,  became  dis- 
orderly, which  woul4  not  have  happened  had  they  been 
empowered  to  elect  a  ruler  from  among  themselves. 
Baltimore's  enemies  took  advantage  of  these  disturb- 
ances to  petition  for  his  removal  from  the  proprietor- 
ship; but  he  was  equal  to  the  occasion,  and  by  confirm- 
ing his  colonists  in  all  just  liberties,  with  freedom  of 
conscience  in  the  foreground,  he  composed  their  dissen- 
sions and  took  away  his  enemies'  ground  of  complaint. 
In  1649  the  Legislature  sat  for  the  first  time  in  two 
branches,  so  that  one  might  be  a  check  upon  the  other. 
Upon  this  principle  all  American  legislatures  are  still 
formed. 

But  the  reign  of  Cromwell  in  England  gave  occasion 
for  sophistries  in  Maryland.  All  other  Englishmen, 
in  the  colonies  or  at  home,  were  members  of  a  common- 
wealth; but  Baltimore  still  claimed  the  Mary  landers' 
allegiance.  On  what  grounds? — for  since  the  King 
from  whom  he  derived  his  power  was  done  away  with, 
so  must  be  the  derivative  power.  Baltimore  stood  be- 
tween them  and  republicanism.  To  give  edge  to  the 
predicament,  the  colony  was  menaced  by  covetous  Vir- 
ginia on  the  one  hand  and  by  fugitive  Charles  II,  with 
a  governor  of  his  own  manufacture,  on  the  other. 
Calamity  seemed  at  hand. 

In  1650,  the  year  after  Charles  I's  execution,  the 
Parliament  appointed  commissioners  to  bring  royalist 
colonies  into  line;  Maryland  was  to  be  reannexed  to 
Virginia;  Bennett,  then  Governor  of  Virginia,  and 
Clayborne  unseated  Stone,  Baltimore's  lieutenant; 
appointed  an  executive  council,  and  ordered  that  bur- 
gesses were  to  be  elected  by  supporters  of  Cromwell 
only.  The  question  of  reannexation  was  referred  to 
Parliament.  Baltimore  protested  that  Maryland  had 
been  less  royalist  than  Virginia;  and  before  the  Parlia- 
ment could  decide  what  to  do,  it  was  dissolved,  carry- 
ing with  it  the  authority  of  Bennett  and  Clayborne. 
Stone  now  reappeared  defiant,  but  the  Virginians  at- 
tacked him,  and  he  surrendered  on  compulsion.  The 
Virginian  Government  decreed  that  no  Roman  Catho- 
lics could  hereafter  vote  or  be  elected. 

160 


CATHOLIC,    PHILOSOPHER,    AND    REBEL 

Baltimore;  taking  his  stand  on  his  charter,  declared 
these  doings  mutinous;  and  Cromwell  supported  him. 
Stone  once  more  asserted  himself;  but  in  the  skirmish 
with  the  Virginians  that  followed  he  was  defeated, 
yielded  (he  seems  to  have  had  no  granite  in  his  com- 
position), and,  with  his  supporters,  was  ordered  to  be 
shot.  His  life  was  spared,  however,  but  Cromwell, 
again  appealed  to,  refused  to  act.  The  ownership  of 
Maryland  was,  therefore,  still  undetermined.  It  was 
not  until  1657  that  Baltimore  and  Bennett  agreed  to 
compromise  their  dispute.  The  boundary  between  the 
two  domains  was  maintained,  but  settlers  from  Virginia 
were  not  to  be  disturbed  in  their  holdings.  The  sec- 
ond year  after  Cromwell's  death  the  representatives  of 
Maryland  met  and  voted  themselves  an  independent 
Assembly,  making  Feudall,  Baltimore's  appointee,  sub- 
ject to  their  will.  Finally,  being  weary  of  turmoil, 
they  made  it  felony  to  alter  what  they  had  done.  The 
colony  was  then  abreast  of  Virginia  in  political  privi- 
leges, and  had  a  population  of  about  ten  thousand,  in 
spite  of  its  vicissitudes. 

But  the  quiet,  invincible  Lord  Baltimore  was  still  to 
be  reckoned  with.  At  the  Restoration  he  sent  his 
deputy  to  the  colony,  which  submitted  to  his  authority, 
and  Fendall  was  convicted  of  treason  for  having  al- 
lowed the  Assembly  to  overrule  him.  A  general  am- 
nesty was  proclaimed,  however,  and  the  kindliness  of 
the  Government  during  the  remainder  of  the  proprie- 
tor's undisputed  sway  attracted  thousands  of  settlers 
from  all  the  nations  of  Europe.  Between  Baltimore 
and  the  ptople  a  give-and-take  policy  was  established, 
one  privilege  being  set  against  another,  so  that  their 
liberties  were  maintained,  and  his  rights  recognized. 
Though  he  stood  in  his  own  person  for  all  that  was  op- 
posed to  democracy,  he  presided  over  a  community 
which  was  essentially  democratic;  and  he  had  the 
breadth  of  mind  to  acknowledge  that  because  he  owned 
allegiance  to  kings  and  popes  was  no  reason  why 
others  should  do  so.  Suum  cuique.  Could  he  but  have 
gone  a  step  further,  and  denied  himself  the  gratifica- 
tion of  retaining  his  hard-earned  proprietorship,  he 

U.S.— 6    VOL.  I  161 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

i 

would  have  been  one  of  the  really  great  men  of  history. 
The  ripple  of  events  which  we  have  recorded  may 
seem  too  insignificant ;  of  still  less  import  is  the  story 
of  the  efforts  of  Clayborne,  from  1634  to  1647,  to  gain 
or  retain  possession  of  Kent  Island  in  the  Chesapeake, 
on  which  he  had  "squatted"  before  Baltimore  got  his 
charter.  Yet,  from  another  point  of  view,  even  slight 
matters  may  weigh  when  they  are  related  to  the  stir- 
ring of  the  elements  which  are  to  crystallize  into  a 
nation.  Maryland,  like  a  bird  half  tamed,  was  ready  to 
fly  away  when  the  cage  door  was  left  open,  and  yet 
was  not  averse  to  its  easy  confinement  when  the  door 
was  shut  again.  But,  unlike  the  bird,  time  made  it 
fonder  of  liberty,  instead  of  leading  it  to  forget  it;  and 
when  the  cage  fell  apart,  it  was  at  home  in  the  free  air. 
The  settlement  of  the  Carolinas,  during  the  twenty 
years  or  so  from  1660  to  1680,  presented  features  of 
singular  grotesqueness.  There  was,  on  one  side,  a  vast 
wilderness  covering  the  region  now  occupied  by  North 
and  South  Carolina,  and  westward  to  the  Pacific.  It 
had  been  nibbled  at,  for  a  hundred  years,  by  Spaniards, 
French,  and  English,  but  no  permanent  hold  had  been 
got  upon  it.  Here  were  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
square  miles  in  which  nature  rioted  unrestrained  with 
semitropic  fervor;  the  topography  of  which  was  un- 
known, and  whose  character  in  any  respect  was  a  mat- 
ter of  pure  conjecture.  This  wilderness  was  on  one 
side ;  on  the  other  were  a  worthless  King,  a  handful  of 
courtiers,  and  a  couple  of  highly  gifted  doctrinaires, 
Lord  Shaftesbury  and  John  Locke,  the  philosopher. 
We  can  picture  Charles  II  lolling  in  his  chair,  with  a 
map  of  the  Americans  spread  out  on  his  knees,  while 
the  other  gentlemen  in  big  wigs  and  silk  attire,  and 
long  rapiers  dangling  at  their  sides,  are  grouped  about 
him.  "I'll  give  you  all  south  of  Virginia,"  says  he,  in* 
dicating  the  territory  with  a  sweep  of  his  long  fingers. 
"Ashley,  you  and  your  friend  Locke  can  draw  up  a 
constitution,  and  stuff  it  full  of  your  fine  ideas;  they 
sound  well:  we'll  see  how  they  work.  You  shall  be 
kings  every  man  of  you ;  and  may  you  like  it  no  worse 
than  I  do !  You'll  have  no  France  or  Holland  to  thwart 

162 


CATHOLIC,  PHILOSOPHER,  AND  REBEL 

you — only  bogs  and  briers  aud  a  few  naked  blacks. 
Your  charter  shall  pass  the  seals  to-morrow :  and  much 
good  may  it  do  you !" 

80  the  theorists  and  the  courtiers  set  out  to  subdue 
the  untutored  savageness  of  nature  with  a  paper  pream- 
ble and  diagrams  and  rules  and  inhibitions,  and  orders 
of  nobility  and  a  college  of  heralds,  and  institutions  of 
slavery  and  serfdom,  and  definitions  of  freeholders  and 
landgraves,  caciques,  and  palatines:  and  specifications 
of  fifths  for  proprietors,  fifths  for  the  nobility,  and  the 
rest  for  the  common  herd,  who  were  never  to  be  per- 
mitted to  be  anything  but  the  common  herd,  with  no 
suffrage,  no  privileges,  and  no  souls.  All  contingencies 
were  provided  against,  except  the  one  contingency, 
not  wholly  unimportant,  that  none  of  the  proposals 
of  the  Model  Constitution  could  be  carried  into  effect. 
•Strange  that  Ashley  Cooper — as  Lord  Shaftesbury  was 
then — one  of  the  most  brilliant  men  in  Europe,  and 
John  Locke  should  get  together  and  draw  squares 
over  a  sheet  of  paper,  each  representing  four  hundred 
and  eighty  thousand  acres,  with  a  cacique  and  land- 
graves and  their  appurtenances  in  each — and  that  they 
should  fail  to  perceive  that  corresponding  areas  would 
never  be  marked  out  in  the  pathless  forests,  and  that 
noblemen  could  not  be  found  nor  created  to  take  up 
their  stand,  like  chessmen,  each  in  his  lonely  and  in- 
accessible morass  or  mountain  or  thicket,  and  exercise 
the  prerogatives  of  the  paper  preamble  over  trees  and 
panthers  and  birds  of  the  air!  How  could  men  ofySuch 
radiant  intelligence  as  Locke  and  Shaftesbury  unques- 
tionably were  show  themselves  so  radically  ignorant 
of  the  nature  of  their  fellow  men,  and  of  the  elemen- 
tary principles  of  colonization?  The  whole  thing  reads 
to-day  like  some  stupendous  jest;  yet  it  was  planned 
in  grave  earnest,  and  persons  were  found  to  go  across 
the  Atlantic  and  try  to  make  it  work. 

Lord  Shaftesbury  was  one  of  the  Hampshire  Coopers, 
and  the  first  earl.  He  was  a  sort  of  English  Voltaire : 
small  and  thin,  nervous  and  fractious,  with  a  great 
cold  brain,  no  affections  and  no  illusions ;  he  had  faith 
in  organizations,  but  none  in  man;  was  destitute  of 

163 


HISTOBY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

compunctions,  careless  of  conventions  and  appear- 
ances, cynical,  penetrating,  and  frivolous.  He  was  a 
skeptic  in  religion,  but  a  devotee  of  astrology;  easily 
worried  in  safety,  but  cool  and  audacious  in  danger. 
He  despised  if  he  did  not  hate  the  people,  and  regarded 
kings  as  an  unavoidable  nuisance;  the  state,  he 
thought,  was  the  aristocracy,  whose  business  it  was  to 
keep  the  people  down  and  hold  the  King  in  check.  His 
career — now  supporting  the  royalists,  now  the  Kound- 
neads,  now  neither — seems  incoherent  and  unprin- 
cipled; but  in  truth  he  was  one  of  the  least  variable 
men  of  his  time;  he  held  to  his  course,  and  King  and 
Parliament  did  the  tacking.  He  was  an  incorruptible 
judge,  though  he  took  bribes;  and  an  unerring  one, 
though  he  disregarded  forms  of  law.  He  was  tried  for 
treason,  and  acquitted;  joined  the  Moumouth  con- 
spiracy, and  escaped  to  Holland,  where  he  died  at  the 
age  of  sixty-two.  What  he  lacked  was  human  sym- 
pathies, which  are  the  beginning  of  wisdom;  and  this 
deficiency  it  was,  no  doubt,  that  led  him  into  the  other- 
wise incomprehensible  folly  of  the  Carolina  scheme. 

Locke  could  plead  the  excuse  of  being  totally  un- 
familiar with  practical  life;  he  was  a  philosopher  of 
abstractions,  who  made  an  ideal  world  to  fit  his 
theories  about  it.  He  could  write  an  essay  on  the  Un- 
derstanding, but  was  unversed  in  common  sense.  His 
nature  was  more  calm  and  normal  than  Shaftesbury's, 
•  but  in  their  intellectual  conclusions  they  were  not  dis- 
similar. The  views  about  the  common  people  which 
Sir  William  Berkeley  expressed  with  stupid  brutality 
they  stated  with  punctual  elegance.  They  were  well 
mated  for  the  purpose  in  hand,  and  they  performed  it 
with  due  deliberation  and  sobriety.  It  was  not  until 
five  years  after  the  grant  was  made  that  the  Constitu- 
tion was  written  and  sealed.  It  achieved  an  instan- 
taneous success  in  England,  much  as  a  brilliant  novel 
might  in  our  time;  and  the  authors  were  enthusiasti- 
cally belauded.  The  proprietors — Albeinarle,  Craven, 
Clarendon,  Berkeley,  Sir  William  Berkeley,  Sir  John 
Colleton,  and  Sir  George  Carteret,  and  Shaftesbury 
himself — began  to  look  about  for  their  serfs  and 

164 


CATHOLIC,    PHILOSOPHER,    AND    REBEL 

caciques,  and  to  think  of  their  revenues.  Meanwhile  the 
primeval  forest  across  three  thousand  miles  of  ocean 
laughed  with  its  innumerable  leaves,  and  waved  its 
boughs  in  the  breath  of  the  spirit  of  liberty.  The  laws 
of  the  study  went  forth  to  battle  with  the  laws  of 
nature. 

Ignorant  of  these  courtly  and  scholarly  proceedings, 
a  small  knot  of  bona-fide  settlers  had  built  their  huts 
on  Albemarle  Sound,  and  had  for  some  years  been  liv- 
ing there  in  the  homeliest  and  most  uneducated  peace 
and  simplicity.  Some  had  come  from  Virginia,  some 
from  New  England,  and  others  from  the  island  of  Ber- 
muda. They  had  their  little  Assembly  and  their  Gov- 
ernor Stevens,  their  humble  plantations,  their  modest 
trade,  their  beloved  solitudes,  and  the  plainest  and 
least  obtrusive  laws  imaginable.  They  paddled  up 
and  down  their  placid  bayous  and  rivers  in  birch-bark 
canoes;  they  shot  deer  and  'possums  for  food  and 
panthers  for  safety,  they  loved  their  wives  and  begot 
their  children,  they  wore  shirts  and  leggings  of  deer- 
skin like  the  Indians,  and  they  breathed  the  pure  whole- 
someness  of  the  warm  southern  air.  When  to  these 
backwoods  innocents  was  borne  from  afar  the  marvel- 
ous rumors  of  the  silk-stockinged  and  lace-ruffled 
glories,  originated  during  an  idle  morning  in  the  King's 
dressing  room,  which  were  to  transfigure  their  forest 
into  trim  gardens  and  smug  plantations  surrounding 
royal  palaces  and  sumptuous  hunting  pavilions,  peram- 
bulated by  uniformed  officials,  cultivated  by  uieek 
armies  of  serfs,  looking  up  from  their  labors  only  to 
doff  their  caps  to  lordly  palatines  and  lily-fingered 
ladies  with  high  heels  and  low  corsages:  when  they 
tried  to  picture  to  themselves  their  solemn  glades  and 
shadow-haunted  streams  and  inviolate  hills,  their 
aeries  of  eagles  and  lairs  of  stag  and  puma,  the  savage 
beauty  of  their  perilous  swamps,  all  the  wild  magnifi- 
cence of  this  pure  home  of  theirs — metamorphosed  by 
royal  edict  into  a  magnified  Versailles,  in  which  lutes 
and  mandolins  should  take  the  place  of  the  wolf's  howl 
and  the  panther's  scream,  the  keen  scent  of  the  pine 
"  balsam  be  replaced  by  the  reek  of  musk  and  patchouli, 

165 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  honest  sanctity  of  their  couches  of  fern  give  way 
to  the  embroidered  corruption  of  a  fine  lady's  bed- 
chamber, the  simple  vigor  of  their  pioneer  parliament 
bewitch  itself  into  a  glittering  senate  chamber,  where 
languid  chancellors  fingered  their  golden  chains  and 
exchanged  witty  epigrams  with  big-wigged,  snuff-tak- 
ing cavaliers:  when  they  attempted  to  house  these 
strange  ideas  in  their  unsophisticated  brains,  they 
must  have  stared  at  one  another  with  a  naive  per- 
plexity which  slowly  broadened  their  tanned  and 
bearded  visages  into  contagious  grins.  They  looked  at 
their  hearty,  clear-eyed  wives,  and  watched  the  gam- 
bols of  their  sturdy  children,  and  shook  their  heads, 
and  turned  to  their  work  once  more. 

The  first  movements  of  the  new  dispensation  took 
the  form  of  trying  to  draw  the  colonists  together  into 
towns,  of  reviving  the  Navigation  Acts,  of  levying  taxes 
on  their  infant  commerce,  and  in  general  of  tying  fet- 
ters of  official  red  tape  on  the  brawny  limbs  of  a  primi- 
tive and  natural  civilization.  The  colony  was  accused 
of  being  the  refuge  of  outlaws  and  traitors,  rogues,  and 
heretics;  and  Sir  William  Berkeley,  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, one  of  the  proprietors  under  the  Model  Constitu- 
tion, was  deputed  to  make  as  much  mischief  in  the 
virgin  settlement  as  he  could. 

The  colonists  numbered  about  four  thousand,  spread 
over  a  large  territory ;  they  did  not  want  to  desert  their 
palmetto-thatched  cabins  and  strenuously  cleared 
acres ;  they  disliked  crowding  into  towns ;  they  saw  no 
justice  in  paying  to  intangible  and  alien  proprietors  a 
penny  tax  on  their  tobacco  exports  to  New  England — 
though  they  paid  it  nevertheless.  They  particularly  ob- 
jected to  the  interference  of  Governor  Berkeley,  for 
they  knew  him  well.  And  when  the  free  election  of 
their  Assembly  was  attacked,  they  sent  emissaries  to 
England  to  remonstrate,  and  meanwhile,  John  Cul- 
peper  leading,  and  without  waiting  for  the  return  of 
their  emissaries,  they  arose  and  wiped  out  the  things 
and  persons  that  were  objectionable,  and  then  returned 
serenely  to  their  business.  They  did  not  fly  into  a 
passion,  and  froth  at  the  mouth,  and  massacre  and  tor- 

166 


CATHOLIC,  PHILOSOPHER,  AND  REBEL 

ture;  but  quietly  and  inflexibly,  with  hardly  a  keener 
flash  from  their  fearless  eyes,  they  put  things  to  rights, 
and  thought  no  more  about  it. 

Such  treasonable  proceedings,  however,  fluttered  the 
council  chambers  in  London  sorely,  and  stout  John 
Culpeper,  who  believed  in  popular  liberty  and  was  not 
afraid  to  say  so,  went  to  England  to  justify  what  had 
been  done.  He  was  arrested  and  put  on  trial,  though  he 
demanded  to  be  tried,  if  at  all,  in  the  place  where  the 
offense  was  committed.  The  intent  of  his  adversaries 
was  not  to  give  him  justice,  but  simply  to  hang  him; 
and  why  go  to  the  trouble  and  expense  of  carrying 
him  to  Carolina  to  do  that?  He  went  near  to  becom- 
ing a  martyr,  did  stout  Johu^  but,  unexpectedly, 
Shaftesbury,  who  might  believe  in  despotism,  but  who 
fretted  to  behold  injustice,  undertook  his  defense  and 
brought  him  out  clear.  The  rest  of  the  "rebels"  were 
amnestied  the  following  year,  1681.  But  one  Seth 
Sothel,  who  had  bought  out  Lord  Clarendon's  proprie- 
tary rights,  was  sent  out  as  Governor ;  and  after  escap- 
ing from  the  Algerine  pirates,  who  captured  and  kept 
him  for  a  couple  of  years,  he  arrived  at  Albeinarle, 
commissioned,  as  Bancroft  admirably  puts  it,  to 
"Transform  a  log  cabin  into  a  baronial  castle,  a  negro 
slave  into  a  herd  of  leet  men."  Sothel  was  not  long  in 
perceiving  that  this  was  beyond  his  powers,  but  he 
could  steal:  and  so  he  did  for  a  few  years,  when  the 
colonists,  thinking  he  had  enough,  unseated  him,  tried 
him,  and  sentenced  him  to  a  year's  exile  and  to  never- 
more be  officer  of  theirs. 

These  planters  of  North  Carolina  were  good  Ameri- 
cans from  the  beginning,  endowed  with  a  courage  and 
love  of  liberty  which  foretold  the  spirit  of  Washing- 
ton's army,  and  a  religious  tolerance  which  did  not 
prevent  them  from  listening  with  sympathy  and  ap- 
proval to  the  spiritual  harangues  of  Fox,  the  Quaker, 
who  sojourned  among  them  with  gratifying  results. 
Their  prejudice  against  towns  continued,  and  one  must 
walk  far  to  visit  them,  with  only  marks  on  the  forest 
trees  to  guide.  They  were  iuveterately  contented,  and 
having  emancipated  themselves  from  the  blight  of  the 

167 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Model  Constitution,  rapidly  became  prosperous.  The 
only  effect  of  Messrs.  Locke  and  Shaftesbury's  scheme 
of  an  aristocratic  Utopia  was  to  make  the  settlers  con- 
scious of  their  strength  and  devoted  to  their  freedom. 
Indeed,  the  North  Carolinians  were  in  great  part  men 
who  had  not  only  fled  from  the  oppressions  of  England, 
but  had  found  even  the  mild  restraints  of  the  other 
colonies  irksome. 

The  fate  of  the  Model  in  South  Carolina  was  similar, 
though  the  preliminary  experiences  were  different. 
When  Joseph  West,  agent  for  the  proprietors,  and  Wil- 
liam Sayle,  experienced  in  colonizing,  took  three  ship- 
loads of  emigrants  to  the  junction  of  the  Ashley  and 
Cooper  Rivers,  about  twenty  miles  south  of  latitude 
33°,  they  had  a  copy  of  the  Model  with  them.  But  the 
first  thing  they  did  after  getting  ashore  was  to  vote 
that  its  provisions  were  impracticable,  and  to  revise 
it  to  such  a  degree  that,  when  it  was  sent  over  to  Eng- 
land for  approval,  its  authors  did  not  recognize  their 
work,  and  disowned  it.  But  the  settlers  constituted 
their  Assembly  on  the  general  lines  which  might  now 
be  called  American,  and  put  up  their  huts  in  1672,  on 
the  ground  where  now  stands  Charleston.  The  climate 
was  too  hot  for  white  labor,  and  the  timely  arrival  of 
negro  slaves  was  welcome ;  in  a  few  years  they  doubled 
the  number  of  the  whites.  The  staple  crops  of  the 
southern  plantations  needed  much  more  work  than 
those  of  New  England  and  the  north,  and  this,  as  well 
as  the  preference  of  the  negroes  themselves  for  the 
warmer  climates,  determined  the  distribution  of  black 
slavery  on  the  Atlantic  Coast. 

Dutch  settlers  presently  joined  the  English;  a 
Scotch-Irish  Colony  at  Port  Royal  was  set  upon  by  the 
Spaniards,  who,  in  accordance  with  the  characteristic 
Spanish  policy,  massacred  the  inhabitants  and  burned 
the  houses.  But  later  the  revocation  by  Louis  XIV  of 
the  amnesty  to  Huguenots  caused  the  latter  to  fly  their 
country  and  disperse  themselves  over  Europe  and 
America;  no  higher  or  finer  class  of  men  and  women 
ever  joined  the  ranks  of  exile,  and  they  were  every- 
where welcomed.  Colonies  of  them  settled  all  along  the 

168 


CATHOLIC,    PHILOSOPHER,    AND    REBEL 

Atlantic  seaboard;  and  around  Charleston  many  from 
Languedoc  found  a  congenial  home,  and  became  a  valu- 
able and  distinguished  part  of  the  population.  America 
could  not  have  been  complete  without  the  leaven  of  the 
heroic  French  Protestants. 

Meanwhile  the  proprietors  were  gradually  submit- 
ting, with  no  good  grace,  however,  to  the  inevitable. 
Their  Model  remained  a  model — something  never  to  be 
put  to  practical  use.  On  paper  was  it  born,  and  on' 
paper  should  it  remain  forever.  The  proprietors  were 
kings,  by  grace  of  Charles  II,  but  they  had  neither  army 
nor  navy,  and  their  subjects  declined  to  be  serfs.  They 
declined  into  the  status  of  land  speculators;  the  gov- 
ernors whom  they  sent  out  did  nothing  but  fill  their 
pockets  and  let  the  people  have  the  rest.  At  last,  it 
was  enough  for  the  proprietors  to  suggest  anything 
for  the  people  to  negative  it,  whether  it  were  good  or 
bad.  They  not  only  avowed  their  natural  right  to  do 
as  they  pleased,  but  deemed  it  due  to  their  self-respect 
not  to  do  what  was  pleasing  to  their  tinsel  sovereigns 
in  London.  And  finally,  when  Colleton,  one  of  the  sov- 
ereigns in  question,  tried  to  declare  martial  law  in 
the  colony,  on  the  plea  of  danger  from  Indians  or 
Spanish,  the  indomitable  freemen  treated  him  as  their 
brethren  at  Albemarle  had  treated  Sothel.  The  next 
year  saw  William  and  Mary  on  the  English  throne; 
Shaftesbury  had  died  seven  years  before;  and  the 
Great  Model  subsided  without  a  bubble  into  the  va- 
cuum of  historical  absurdities. 

We  left  Virginia  awaiting  the  return  of  the  envoys 
who  had  gone  to  ask  Charles  for  justice  and  protection 
against  the  tyranny  of  Berkeley.  Charles,  as  we  know, 
first  promised  the  reforms,  and  then  broke  his  promise, 
as  all  Stuarts  must.  But  before  the  envoys  could  re- 
turn with  their  heavy  news,  there  had  been  stirring 
things  done  and  suffered  in  Virginia. 

The  character  of  Berkeley  is  as  detestable  as  any 
known  in  the  annals  of  the  American  colonies.  Many 
of  his  acts,  and  all  the  closing  scenes  of  his  career,  seem 
hardly  compatible  with  moral  sanity ;  in  our  day,  when 

169 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

science  is  so  prone  to  find  the  explanation  of  crime  in 
insanity,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  been  adjudged  to 
the  nearest  asylum.  In  his  early  years  he  had  been 
stupid  and  illiberal,  but  nothing  worse ;  in  his  old  age 
he  seemed  to  seek  out  opportunities  of  wickedness  and 
outrage,  and  at  last  he  gave  way  to  transports  which 
could  only  be  likened  to  those  of  a  fiend  from  the  Pit, 
permitted  for  a  season  to  afflict  the  earth.  He  was  as 
base  as  he  was  wicked;  a  thief,  and  perjured,  as  well 
as  an  insatiable  murderer.  The  only  trait  that  seems 
to  ally  him  with  manhood  is  itself  animal  and  repulsive. 
He  had  wholly  abandoned  any  pretense  of  self-control ; 
and  in  some  of  the  outbursts  of  his  frenzy  he  seems  to 
have  become  insensible  even  to  the  suggestions  of  phys- 
ical fear.  But  this  can  hardly  be  accorded  the  name 
of  courage;  rather  is  it  to  be  attributed  to  the  suf- 
fusion of  blood  to  the  brain  which  drives  the  Malay  to 
run  amuck. 

Virginia  had  been  nurtured  in  liberty,  and  was  ill 
prepared  for  despotism.  On  the  contrary,  she  was  al- 
most ready  to  doubt  the  wisdom  or  convenience  of  any 
government  whatever,  except  such  as  was  spontane- 
ously furnished  by  the  generous  and  magnanimous  in- 
stincts of  her  people.  There  were  no  towns,  and  none 
of  the  vice  and  selfishness  which  crowded  populations 
engender.  Roads,  bridges,  public  works  of  any  sort 
were  unknown;  the  population  seldom  met  except  at 
races  or  to  witness  court  proceedings.  The  great 
planters  lived  in  comparatiVe  comfort,  but  they  were 
as  much  in  love  with  freedom  as  were  the  common 
people.  This  state  of  things  was  the  outcome  of  the 
growth  of  fifty  years;  and  most  of  the  eight  thousand 
inhabitants  of  the  colony  were  born  on  the  soil,  and 
loved  it  as  the  only  home  they  knew. 

The  chief  injury  they  had  suffered  was  from  the 
depredations  of  the  Indians,  who,  on  their  side,  could 
plead  that  they  had  received  less  than  justice  at  the 
colonists'  hands.  Border  raids  and  killings  became 
more  and  more  frequent  and  alarming;  the  savages 
had  learned  the  use  of  muskets,  and  were  good  marks- 
men. They  built  a  fort  on  the  Maryland  border,  and 

170 


CATHOLIC,    PHILOSOPHER,    AND   REBEL 

for  a  time  resisted  siege  operations;  and  when  at 
length  some  of  the  chiefs  came  out  to  parley,  they  were 
seized  and  shot.  The  rest  of  the  Indian  garrison  es- 
caped by  night,  and  slaughtered  promiscuously  all 
whom  they  could  surprise  along  the  countryside.  A 
force  was  raised  to  check  them,  and  avenge  the  mur- 
ders; but  before  it  could  come  in  contact  with  them 
Berkeley  sent  out  a  peremptory  summons  that  they 
should  return. 

What  was  the  explanation  of  this  extraordinary 
step?  Simply  that  the  Governor  had  the  monopoly  of 
the  Indian  trade,  which  was  very  valuable,  and  would 
not  permit  the  Indians  who  traded  with  him  to  be 
driven  away.  In  order  to  supply  his  already  overloaded 
pockets  with  money,  he  was  willing  to  see  the  red  men 
murder  with  impunity,  and  with  the  brutalities  of 
torture  and  outrage,  the  men,  women,  and  children  of 
his  own  race.  But  the  Indians  themselves  seem  ad- 
mirable in  contrast  with  the  inhumanity  of  this  gray- 
h.iired,  wine-bloated,  sordid  cavalier  of  seventy. 

The  troops  on  which  the  safety  of  the  colonists  de- 
pended reluctantly  retired.  Immediately  the  savages 
renewed  their  attacks;  three  hundred  settlers  were 
killed.  Still  Berkeley  refused  to  permit  anything  to  be 
done ;  forts  might  be  erected  on  the  borders,  but  these, 
be.sides  being  of  great  expense  to  the  people,  were 
wholly  useless  for  their  defense,  inasmuch  as  the  sav- 
ages could  without  difficulty  slip  by  them  under  cover 
of  the  forest.  The  raids  continued,  and  the  plantations 
were  abandoned,  till  not  one  in  seven  remained.  The 
inhabitants  were  terror  stricken;  no  man's  life  was 
safe.  At  last  permission  was  asked  that  the  people 
might  raise  and  equip  a  force  at  their  own  expense, 
in  the  exercise  of  the  universal  right  of  self-protection ; 
but  even  this  was  violently  forbidden  by  the  Governor, 
who  threatened  punishment  on  any  who  should  pre- 
sume to  take  arms  against  them.  All  traffic  with  them 
had  also  been  interdicted ;  but  it  was  known  that  Berke- 
ley himself  continued  his  trading  with  those  whose 
hands  were  red  with  the  blood  of  the  wives,  fathers, 
and  children  of  Virginia. 

171 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Finally,  in  1676,  the  report  came  that  an  army  of 
Indians  were  approaching  Jamestown.  Unless  resis- 
tance were  at  once  made,  there  seemed  nothing  to  pre- 
'  vent  the  extinction  of  the  colony.  Berkeley,  apparently 
for  no  better  reason  than  that  he  would  not  recede  from 
a  position  once  taken,  adhered  to  his  order  that  noth- 
ing should  be  done. 

There  was  at  that  time  in  Virginia  a  young  Eng- 
lishman of  about  thirty,  named  Nathaniel  Bacon.  He 
was  descended  from  good  ancestors,  and  had  received 
a  thorough  education,  including  terms  in  the  Inns  of 
Court.  He  was  intellectual,  thoughtful,  and  self-con- 
tained, with  a  clear  mind,  a  generous  nature,  and  the 
power  of  winning  and  controlling  men.  He  had  ar- 
rived in  the  colony  a  little  more  than  a  year  before, 
and  had  been  chosen  to  the  council;  he  was  wealthy 
and  aristocratic,  yet  a  known  friend  of  the  people. 
Born  in  1642,  he  was  familiar  with  revolutions,  and 
had  formed  his  own  opinions  as  to  the  rights  of  man. 
He  had  a  plantation  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of 
Eichmond,  and  during  the  late  Indian  troubles  had 
lost  his  overseer.  Coming  down  on  his  affairs  to 
Jamestown,  he  fell  into  talk  with  some  friends,  who 
suggested  crossing  the  river  to  see  some  of  the  volun- 
teers who  had  come  together  for  defense.  These  men 
were  in  a  mood  of  excited  exasperation  at  the  sinister 
conduct  of  the  Governor,  and  ready  to  follow  extreme 
counsels  had  they  had  a  leader  with  the  boldness  and 
ability  to  put  himself  at  their  head. 

The  tall,  slender  figure  and  grave  features  of  Bacon 
were  well  known.  As  he  advanced  toward  the  troop 
of  stalwart  young  fellows,  who  were  sullenly  discuss- 
ing the  situation,  he  was  recognized;  and  something 
seems  to  have  suggested  to  them  that  he  was  come  with 
a  purpose.  Conclusions  are  sudden  at  such  times,  and 
impulses  contagious  as  fire.  He  was  the  leader  whom 
they  sought.  "A  Bacon — a  Bacon !"  shouted  some  one ; 
and  instantly  the  cry  was  taken  up.  They  thronged 
around  him,  welcoming  him,  cheering  him,  exclaiming 
that  they  would  follow  him,  that  with  them  at  his 
back  he  should  save  the  country  in  spite  of  the  Gov- 

172 


CATHOLIC,    PHILOSOPHER,    AND    EEBEL 

ernor!  They  were  fiery  and  emotional,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  sons  of  the  Old  Dominion,  and  the  wrongs  of 
many  kinds  which  had  long  been  rankling  in  their 
hearts  now  demanded  to  be  requited  by  some  action — 
no  matter  how  daring.  Virginians  never  shrank  from 
danger. 

Bacon  had  been  wholly  unprepared  for  this  outburst; 
but  he  had  a  strong,  calm  soul,  a  ready  brain,  and  the 
blood  of  youth.  He  knew  what  the  colony  had  endured, 
and  that  it  had  nothing  to  hope  from  the  present  Gov- 
ernment. He  had  come  to  America  after  making  the 
European  tour,  intending  only  a  visit;  but  he  had 
grown  attached  to  Virginia,  and  now  that  chance  had 
put  this  opportunity  to  help  her,  he  resolved  to  accept 
it.  He  would  throw  in  his  lot  with  these  spirited  and 
fearless  young  patriots — the  first  men  in  America  who 
had  the  right  to  call  the  country  their  own.  Standing 
before  them,  with  his  head  bared,  and  in  a  voice  that 
all  could  hear,  he  solemnly  pledged  himself  to  lead 
them  against  the  Indians,  and  then  aid  them  to  recover 
the  liberties  which  had  been  wrested  from  them.  "And 
do  you,"  he  added,  "pledge  yourselves  to  me!"  His 
words  were  heard  with  tumultuous  enthusiasm,  and  a 
round  robin  was  signed,  binding  all  to  stick  to  their 
captain  and  to  one  another.  That  is  a  document  which 
history  would  fain  have  preserved. 

With  an  army  of  three  hundred  Virginians,  Bacon 
set  forward  against  the  Indians.  Meanwhile  Berkeley, 
enraged  at  this  slight  on  his  authority,  called  some 
troops  together  and  despatched  them  to  bring  back 
"the  rebels."  Thus  was  seen  the  singular  spectacle  of 
a  Government  force  marching  to  apprehend  men  who 
were  risking  their  lives  freely  to  repel  a  danger  immi- 
nent and  common  to  all. 

But  Berkeley  was  going  too  far.  Bacon's  act  had 
the  sympathy  of  all  except  such  as  were  as  corrupt 
as  the  Governor,  and  the  men  of  the  lower  counties 
revolted,  and  demanded  that  the  long  scandal  of  the 
continuous  Assembly  should  cease  forthwith.  Berke- 
ley was  intimidated;  he  had  not  believed  that  any 
spirit  was  left  in  the  colony;  he  recalled  his  men,  and 

173 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

consented  to  the  Assembly's  dissolution.  By  the  time 
Bacon  and  his  three  hundred  got  back  from  their  suc- 
cessful campaign,  the  writs  for  a  new  election  were 
out;  and  he  was  unanimously  chosen  burgess  from 
Henrico.  The  Assembly  of  which  he  thus  became  a 
member  was  for  the  most  part  in  sympathy  with  him; 
and  though,  for  the  benefit  of  the  record,  censure  was 
passed  upon  the  irregularity  of  his  campaign,  and  he 
was  required  to  apologize  for  fighting  without  a  com- 
mission, yet  he  was  at  the  same  time  caressed  and 
praised  on  all  sides,  returned  to  the  council,  and 
dubbed  the  darling  of  Virginia's  hopes.  The  Assembly 
then  proceeded  to  undo  all  the  evil  and  clean  out  all 
the  rottenness  that  had  disgraced  the  conduct  of  their 
predecessors.  Taxes,  church  tyranny,  restriction  of 
the  franchise,  illegal  assessments,  fees,  and  liquor  deal- 
ing were  done  away  with ;  two  magistrates  were  proved 
thieves  and  disfranchised,  and  trade  with  Indians  was 
for  the  present  stopped.  Bacon  received  a  commission ; 
but  Berkeley  refused  to  sign  it;  and  when  Bacon  ap 
pealed  to  the  country,  and  returned  with  five  hundred 
men  to  demand  his  rights,  the  Governor  was  beside 
himself  with  fury. 

Private  letters  and  other  documents,  made  public 
only  long  after  this  date,  are  the  authority  for  what 
occurred ;  but  though  certain  facts  are  given,  explana- 
tions are  seldom  available.  Berkeley  appears  to  have 
been  holding  court  when  Bacon  and  his  followers  ap- 
peared ;  it  is  said  that  he  ran  out  and  confronted  them, 
tore  his  shirt  open  and  declared  that  sooner  should  they 
shoot  him  than  he  would  sign  the  commission  of  that 
rebel;  and  the  next  moment,  changing  his  tactics,  he 
offered  to  settle  the  issue  between  Bacon  and  himself 
by  a  duel.  All  this  does  not  sound  like  the  acts  of  a 
man  in  his  sober  senses.  It  seems  probable  either  that 
the  old  reprobate  was  intoxicated,  or  that  his  mind 
was  disordered  by  passion.  Bacon,  of  course,  declined 
to  match  his  youthful  vigor  against  his  decrepit  enemy, 
as  the  latter  must  have  known  he  would:  and  told  him 
temperately  that  the  commission  he  demanded  was  to 
enable  him  to  repel  the  savages  who  were  murdering 

174 


CATHOLIC,    PHILOSOPHER,    AND    REBEL 

their  fellow  colonists  unchecked.  The  Governor,  after 
some  further  parley,  again  altered  his  behavior,  and 
now  overpowered  Bacon  with  maudlin  professions  of 
esteem  for  his  patriotic  energy ;  signed  his  commission, 
and  sent  dispatches  to  England  warmly  commending 
him.  A  formal  amnesty,  obliterating  all  past  acts  of 
the  popular  champion  and  his  supporters  which  could 
be  construed  as  irregular,  was  drawn  up  and  ratified 
by  the  Governor;  and  the  clouds  which  so  long  had 
lowered  over  Virginia  seemed  to  have  been  buried  at 
last  in  the  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean.  To  those  whom 
coincidences  interest  it  will  be  significant  that  this  vic- 
tory for  the  people  was  won  on  the  4th  of  July,  1676. 

Operations  against  the  Indians  were  now  vigorously 
resumed;  but  Berkeley  had  not  yet  completed  the  cata- 
logue of  his  iniquities.  Bacon's  back  was  scarcely 
turned,  before  he  violated  the  amnesty  which  he  had 
just  ratified,  and  tried  to  rouse  public  sentiment 
against  the  liberator.  In  this,  however,  he  signally 
failed,  as  also  in  his  attempt  to  raise  a  levy  to  arrest 
him ;  and  frightened  at  the  revelation  of  his  weakness, 
he  fled  in  a  panic  to  Accomac,  a  peninsula  on  the  east- 
ern side  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  Word  of  his  proceedings 
had  in  the  meantime  been  conveyed  to  Bacon  by  Drum- 
mond,  former  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  and  Law- 
rence. "Shall  he  who  commissioned  us  to  protect  the 
country  from  the  heathen,  betray  our  lives?"  said 
Bacon.  "I  appeal  to  the  King  and  Parliament!"  He 
established  himself  in  Williamsburg;  at  Drummond's 
suggestion  Berkeley's  flight  was  taken  to  mean  his 
withdrawal  from  the  Governorship — which,  at  any  rate, 
had  now  passed  its  appointed  limit — and  a  summons 
was  sent  out  to  the  gentlemen  of  Virginia  to  meet  for 
consultation  as  to  the  future  conduct  of  the  colony. 
It  was  at  this  juncture  that  the  envoys  returned  from 
England,  with  the  dark  news  that  Charles  had  refused 
all  relief. 

At  the  conference,  after  full  discussion,  it  was  voted 
that  the  colony  take  the  law  into  their  own  hands,  and 
maintain  themselves  not  only  against  the  Indians  and 
Berkeley,  but  if  need  were  against  England  herself. 

175 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

"I  fear  England  no  more  than  a  broken  straw,"  said 
Sarah  Drummond,  snapping  a  stick  in  her  hands  as 
she  spoke:  the  women  of  Virginia  were  as  resolved  as 
the  men.  Pending  these  contingencies,  Bacon  with  his 
little  army  again  set  out  in  pursuit  of  the  Indians; 
hearing  which,  Berkeley,  with  a  train  of  mercenaries 
which  he  had  contrived  to  collect,  crossed  from  Ac- 
comae  and  landed  at  Jamestown,  where  he  repeated 
his  refrain  of  "rebels !"  He  promised  freedom  to  what- 
ever slaves  of  the  colony  would  enlist  on  his  side,  and 
fortified  the  little  town.  The  crews  of  some  English 
ships  in  the  harbor  assisted  him;  and  in  the  sequel 
these  tars  were  the  only  ones  of  his  rabble  that  stayed 
by  him.  The  neighborhood  was  alarmed,  fearing  any 
kind  of  enormity,  and  messengers  rode  through  the 
woods  posthaste,  and  swam  the  rivers,  in  the  sultry 
September  weather,  to  find  and  recall  their  defenders, 
and  summon  them  to  resist  a  worse  foe  than  the  red 
man.  Before  they  could  reach  the  young  leader,  the 
Indians  had  been  routed,  the  army  disbanded,  and 
Bacon,  with  a  handful  of  followers,  was  on  his  way  to 
his  plantation.  They  were  weary  with  the  fatigues  of 
the  campaign,  but  on  learning  that  the  prime  source 
of  the  troubles  was  intrenched  in  Jamestown,  and  that 
"man,  woman,  and  child"  were  in  peril  of  slavery,  they 
turned  their  horses'  heads  southeastward,  and  galloped 
to  the  rescue.  They  gathered  recruits  on  their  way — 
no  one  could  resist  the  eloquence  of  Bacon — and  halt- 
ing at  such  of  the  plantations  as  were  owned  by  royalist 
sympathizers,  they  compelled  their  wives  to  mount  and 
accompany  them  as  hostages.  This  indicates  to  what 
extremes  the  violence  of  Berkeley  was  expected  to  go. 
It  was  evening  when  they  came  in  sight  of  the  enemy. 
But  the  moon  was  already  aloft,  and  as  the  western 
light  faded,  her  mellow  radiance  flooded  the  scene, 
giving  it  the  semblance  of  peace.  But  the  impatient 
Virginians  wished  to  attack  at  once;  and  a  lesser  man 
than  Bacon  might  have  yielded  to  their  urging.  Know- 
ing, however,  that  the  country  was  with  him,  and  feel- 
ing that  the  enemy  must  sooner  or  later  succumb,  he 
would  not  win  by  a  dashing,  bloody  exploit  what  time 

176 


CATHOLIC,    PHILOSOPHER,    AND    REBEL 

was  sure  to  give  him.  He  ordered  an  intrenchment  to 
be  dug,  and  prepared  for  a  siege.  But  there  was  no 
lust  for  battle  in  the  disorderly  and  incoherent  force 
which  the  frantic  appeals  and  reckless  promises  of  the 
Governor  had  assembled ;  they  were  beaten  already,  and 
could  not  be  induced  to  make  a  sortie.  Desertions  be- 
gan, and  all  the  objurgations,  supplications  and  melo- 
dramatic extravaganzas  of  Berkeley  were  impotent  to 
stop  them ;  the  more  shrilly  he  shrieked,  the  faster  did 
his  sorry  aggregation  melt  away.  When  it  became  evi- 
dent that  there  would  soon  be  none  left  save  himself 
and  the  sailors,  he  ceased  his  blustering,  and  scuttled 
off  toward  Gloucester  and  the  Rappahannock. 

Bacon,  Drummond,  Lawrence,  and  their  men  occu- 
pied the  abandoned  town,  in  which  some  of  them  owned 
houses,  and  burned  it  to  the  ground.  The  act  was  de- 
liberate ;  the  town  records  were  first  removed ;  and  the 
men  who  had  most  to  lose  by  the  conflagration  were 
the  first  to  set  the  torch.  Jamestown  at  that  time  con- 
tained hardly  twenty  buildings  all  told ;  but  it  was  the 
first  settlement  of  the  Dominion,  and  sentiment  would 
fain  have  preserved  it.  A  mossy  ruin,  draped  in  vines, 
is  all  that  remains  of  it  now.  The  ascertainable  causes 
of  its  destruction  seem  inadequate;  yet  the  circum- 
stances show  that  it  could  not  have  been  done  in  mere 
wantonness.  Civilized  warfare  permits  the  destruction 
of  the  enemy's  property;  but  the  enemy  had  retreated, 
and  the  expectation  was  that  he  would  never  return. 
That  Bacon  had  reasons,  his  previous  record  justifies 
us  in  believing;  but  what  they  were  is  matter  of  con- 
jecture. As  it  is,  the  burning  of  Jamestown  is  the  only 
passage  in  his  brief  and  gallant  career  which  can  be 
construed  as  a  blemish  upon  it.  Unfortunately,  it  was, 
also,  all  but  the  final  one. 

He  pursued  Berkeley,  and  the  army  of  the  latter,  in- 
stead of  fighting,  marched  over  to  him  with  a  unanimity 
which  left  the  Governor  almost  without  a  companion 
in  his  chagrin.  The  whole  of  Virginia  was  now  in 
Bacon's  hand ;  he  had  no  foes ;  he  was  called  Deliverer ; 
he  had  never  met  reverse;  he  was  a  man  of  intellect, 
judgment  and  honor,  and  he  was  in  the  prime  of  his 

177 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

youth;  in  such  a  country,  beloved  and  supported  by 
such  a  people,  what  might  he  not  have  hoped  to 
achieve?  Men  like  him  are  rare;  in  a  country  just 
emerging  into  political  consciousness  he  was  doubly 
precious.  There  was  no  one  to  take  his  place;  the  re- 
turn of  Berkeley  meant  all  that  was  imaginable  of 
evil;  and  yet  Bacon  was  to  die,  and  Berkeley  was  to 
return. 

In  the  trenches  before  Jamestown,  Bacon  had  con- 
tracted the  seeds  of  a  fever  which  now,  in  the  hour  of 
his  triumph,  overcame  him.  After  a  short  struggle  he 
succumbed;  and  his  men,  fearing,  apparently,  that  the 
ghoulish  revenge  of  the  old  Governor  might  subject  his 
remains  to  insult,  sunk  his  body  in  the  river ;  and  none 
know  where  lie  the  bones  of  the  first  American  patriot 
who  died  in  arms  against  oppression.  His  worth  is 
proved  by  the  confusion  and  disorganization  which  en- 
sued upon  his  death.  Cheeseman,  Hansford,  Wilford, 
and  Drummond  could  not  make  head  against  disaster. 
On  the  Governor's  side,  Robert  Beverly  developed  the 
qualities  of  a  leader,  and  a  series  of  small  engagements 
left  the  patriots  at  his  mercy.  Berkeley  was  reestab- 
lished in  his  place;  and  then  began  the  season  of  his 
revenge. 

His  victims  were  the  gentlemen  of  Virginia;  the 
flower  of  the  province.  He  had  no  mercy;  his  sole 
thought  was  to  add  insult  to  the  bitterness  of  death. 
He  would  not  spare  their  lives;  he  would  not  shoot 
them ;  they  must  perish  on  the  gallows,  not  as  soldiers, 
but  as  rebels.  When  a  young  wife  pleaded  for  her 
gallant  husband,  declaring  that  it  was  she  who  per- 
suaded him  to  join  the  patriotic  movement,  Berkeley 
denied  her  prayer  with  coarse  brutality.  When  Drum- 
mond was  brought  before  him,  he  assured  him  of  his 
pleasure  in  their  meeting:  "You  shall  be  hanged  in 
half  an  hour."  One  can  see  that  mean,  flushed  counte- 
nance, ravaged  by  time  and  intemperance,  with  blood- 
shot eyes,  gloating  over  the  despair  of  his  foes,  and 
searching  for  means  to  torture  their  minds  while  de- 
stroying their  bodies.  Trial  by  jury  was  not  quick  or 
sure  enough  for  Berkeley ;  he  condemned  them  by  court- 

178 


CATHOLIC,  PHILOSOPHER,  AND  REBEL 

martial  and  the  noose  was  round  their  necks  at  once. 
Their  families  were  stripped  of  their  property  and  sent 
adrift  to  subsist  on  charity.  In  his  bloodthirstiness, 
he  never  forgot  his  pecuniary  advantage,  and  his  thiev- 
ish fingers  grasped  all  the  valuables  that  his  murderous 
instincts  brought  within  his  power.  But  the  spectacle 
is  too  revolting  for  contemplation. 

"He  would  have  hanged  half  the  country  if  we  had 
let  him  alone,"  was  the  remark  of  a  member  of  the 
Assembly.  It  was  voted  that  the  execution  should 
cease;  more  than  two-score  men  had  already  been 
strangled  for  defending  their  homes  and  resisting  op- 
pression. Even  Charles  in  London  was  annoyed  when 
he  heard  of  the  wasteful  malignity  of  "the  old  fool," 
and  sent  word  of  his  disapproval  and  displeasure.  A 
successor  was  sent  over  to  supersede  him;  but  he  at 
first  refused  to  go  at  the  King's  command,  though  he 
had  ever  used  the  King's  name  as  the  warrant  for  his 
crimes.  He  had  sold  powder  and  shot  to  the  Indians 
to  kill  his  own  people  with;  he  had  appropriated  the 
substance  of  widows  and  orphans  whom  he  had  made 
such ;  he  had  punished  by  public  whipping  all  who  were 
reported  to  have  spoken  against  him;  he  forbade  the 
printing  press;  but  all  had  been  done  "for  the  King." 
And  now  he  resisted  the  authority  of  the  King  him- 
self. 

But  Charles,  for  once,  was  determined,  and  Berkeley, 
under  the  disgrace  of  severe  reprimand,  was  forced  to 
go.  The  joy  bells  clashed  out  the  people's  delight  as 
the  ship  which  carried  him  dropped  down  the  harbor, 
and  the  firing  of  guns  was  like  an  anticipation  of  our 
celebration  of  Independence  Day.  He  stood  on  the 
poop,  in  the  beauty  of  the  morning,  shaking  out  curses 
from  his  trembling  hands,  in  helpless  hatred  of  the  fair 
land  and  gallant  people  that  he  had  done  his  utmost  to 
make  miserable.  In  England,  the  King  would  have 
none  of  him,  and  he  met  with  nothing  but  rebuffs  and 
condemnation  on  all  sides.  The  power  which  he  had 
misused  was  forever  gone;  he  was  old,  and  shattered 
in  constitution;  he  was  disgraced,  flouted,  friendless, 
and  alone.  He  died  soon  after  his  arrival,  of  mortifica- 

179 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

tion ;  he  had  lived  only  to  do  evil,  and  to  withhold  him 
from  it  was  to  take  his  life  away. 

It  is  not  the  function  of  the  historian  to  condemn. 
Berkeley  was  by  birth  and  training  an  aristocrat  and 
a  cavalier,  and  he  was  a  creature  of  his  age  and  station. 
He  had  been  taught  to  believe  that  the  patrician  is  of 
another  flesh  and  blood  than  the  plebeian ;  that  author- 
ity can  be  enforced  only  by  tyranny ;  that  the  only  right 
is  that  of  birth,  and  of  the  strongest.  He  was  early 
placed  in  a  position  where  every  personal  indulgence 
was  made  easy  to  him,  where  there  was  none  to  call  in 
question  his  authority  and  where  there  was  temptation 
to  assert  authority  by  oppression,  and  by  arrogating 
absolute  license  to  act  as  the  whim  prompted,  and  to 
lay  hands  on  whatever  he  coveted.  Add  to  these  condi- 
tions a  nature  congenitally  without  generous  instincts, 
a  narrow  brain,  and  a  sensual  temperament,  and  we 
have  gone  far  to  account  for  the  phenomenon  which 
Berkeley  finally,  in  his  approaching  senility,  presented. 
He  was  the  type  of  the  worst  traits  that  caused  Eng- 
land ultimately  to  forfeit  America;  the  concentration 
of  whatever  is  opposite  to  popular  liberties.  His  deeds 
must  be  execrated ;  but  we  cannot  put  him  beyond  the 
pale  of  human  nature,  or  deny  that  under  different 
circumstances  he  would  have  been  a  better  man.  We 
may  admit,  too,  that,  in  the  wisdom  of  Providence,  he 
was  placed  where,  by  doing  so  much  mischief,  he  was 
involuntarily  the  cause  of  more  good  than  he  could  ever 
willingly  have  accomplished.  He  taught  the  people 
how  to  hate  despotism,  and  how  to  struggle  against  it. 
He  wrought  a  mutual  understanding  and  sympathy  be- 
tween the  upper  and  lower  orders;  he  led  them  to  de- 
fine to  their  own  minds  what  things  are  indispensable 
to  the  existence  of  true  democracy.  These  are  some  of 
the  uses  which  he,  and  such  as  he,  in  their  own  despite 
subserved.  He  and  the  young  Bacon  were  mortal  foes ; 
but  he,  by  opposing  Bacon,  and  murdering  his  friends, 
aided  the  cause  for  which  they  laid  down  their  lives. 

After  his  departure  there  ensued  a  period  of  ten 
years  or  more,  during  which  the  pressure  upon  Vir- 
ginia seemed  rather  to  grow  heavier  than  to  lighten. 

180 


CATHOLIC,  PHILOSOPHEK,  AND  REBEL 

The  acts  of  Bacon's  Assembly  were  repealed;  all  the 
former  abuses  were  restored;  the  public  purse  was 
shamelessly  robbed;  the  suffrage  was  restricted;  the 
church  was  restored  to  power.  In  1677  the  Dominion 
became  the  property  of  one  Culpeper,  who  had  the  title 
of  Governor  for  life;  and  the  restraints,  such  as  they 
were,  of  its  existence  as  a  royal  colony  were  removed. 
But  Culpeper's  course  was  so  corrupt  as  to  necessitate 
his  removal,  and  in  1684  the  King  resumed  his  sway. 
James  II  reached  the  English  throne  the  following 
year,  and  his  persecutions  of  his  enemies  in  England 
gave  good  citizens  to  America.  But  the  Virginians, 
who  could  be  wronged  and  oppressed,  but  never 
crushed,  protested  against  the  arbitrary  use  of  the 
King's  prerogative;  they  were  punished  for  their  te- 
merity, but  rose  more  determined  from  the  struggle. 
No  man  could  be  sent  to  Virginia  who  was  strong 
enough  to  destroy  its  resolve  for  liberty. 

And  now  the  English  Revolution  was  at  hand;  and 
we  are  to  inquire  what  influence  the  new  dispensation 
was  to  have  on  the  awakening  national  spirit  of  the 
American  colonies. 


181 


CHAPTER  VII 

f  i 

QUAKER,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 

THE  American  principle,  simple  in  that  its  per- 
fection is  human  liberty,  is  of  complex  make.  It 
is  the  sum  of  the  ways  in  which  a  man  may 
legitimately  be  free.  But  neither  Pilgrims,  Puritans, 
New  Amsterdamers,  Virginians,  Carolinians,  nor  Mary- 
landers  were  free  in  all  ways.  Even  the  Providence 
people  had  their  limitations.  It  is  not  meant,  merely, 
that  the  old  world  still  kept  a  grip  on  them :  their  sev- 
eral systems  were  intrinsically  incomplete.  Some  of 
them  put  religious  liberty  in  the  first  place;  others, 
political;  but  each  had  its  inconsistency,  or  its  short- 
coming. None  had  gone  quite  to  the  root  of  the  matter. 
What  was  that  root? — or,  let  us  say,  the  mother  lode, 
of  which  these  were  efferent  veins? 

The  Pilgrims  and  Puritans,  heretics  in  Episcopalian 
England,  had  escaped  from  their  persecution,  but  had 
banished  heretics  in  their  turn.  Tranquil  Lord  Balti- 
more, having  laid  the  burden  of  his  doubts  at  the  foot 
of  God's  vicegerent  on  earth,  had  sought  no  further, 
and  was  indifferent  as  to  what  other  poor  mortals 
might  choose  to  think  they  thought  about  the  unknown 
things.  Roger  Williams'  charity,  based  on  the  dogma 
of  free  conscience,  drew  the  line  only  at  atheists.  The 
other  colonists,  since  their  salient  contention  was  on 
the  lower  ground  of  civil  emancipation  and  self -direc- 
tion, are  not  presently  considered. 

But,  to  the  assembly  of  religious  radicals,  there 
enters  a  plain  man  in  leather  breeches,  and  sees  fetters 
on  the  limbs  of  all  of  them.  "Does  thee  call  it  freedom, 
Friend  Winthrop,"  says  he,  "to  fear  contact  with  such 
as  believe  otherwise  than  thee  does?  Can  truth  fear 
aught?  And  fear,  is  it  not  bondage?  As  for  thee, 
George  Calvert,  thee  has  delivered  up  thine  immortal 

182 


QUAKER,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 

soul  into  the  keeping  of  a  man  no  different  from  what 
thee  thyself  is,  so  to  escape  the  anxious  seat;  but  the 
dead  also  are  free  of  anxiety,  and  thy.  bondage  is  most 
like  unto  death.  Thee  calls  thy  colony  folk  free,  be- 
cause thee  lets  them  believe  what  they  list ;  but  they  do 
but  follow  what  their  fathers  taught  them,  who  got 
it  from  theirs;  which  is  to  be  in  bondage  to  the  past. 
And  here  is  friend  Roger,  who  makes  private  con- 
science free;  but  what  is  private  conscience  but  the 
private  reasonings  whereby  a  man  convinceth  himself? 
and  how  shall  he  call  his  conviction  the  truth,  since 
all  truth  is  one,  but  the  testimony  of  no  man's  private 
conscience  is  the  same  as  another's?  Nay,  how  does 
thee  know  that  the  atheist,  whom  thee  excludes,  is 
further  from  the  truth  than  thee  thyself  is?  Truly,  I 
hear  the  Blanking  of  the  chains  on  ye  all ;  but  if  ye 
will  accept  the  Inner  Light,  then  indeed  shall  ye  know 
what  freedom  is !" 

This  man  in  leather  breeches,  who  also  wears  his 
hat  in  the  King's  presence,  is  otherwise  known  as 
George  Fox,  the  Leicestershire  weaver's  son,  the 
Quaker.  In  his  youth  he  was  much  troubled  in  spirit 
concerning  mankind,  their  nature  and  destiny,  and  the 
purpose  of  God  concerning  them.  He  wandered  in 
lonely  places,  and  fasted,  and  was  afflicted;  he  sought 
help  and  light  from  all,  but  there  was  none  could  en- 
lighten him.  But  at  last  light  came  to  him,  even  out 
of  the  bosom  of  his  own  darkness;  and  he  saw  that 
human  learning  is  but  vanity,  since  within  a  man's 
self,  will  he  but  look  for  it,  abides  a  great  Inner  Light, 
which  changeth  not,  and  is  the  same  in  all;  being,  in- 
deed, the  presence  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  His  creature, 
a  constant  guide  and  revelation,  withheld  from  none, 
uniting  and  equalizing  all;  for  what,  in  comparison 
with  God,  are  the  distinctions  of  rank  and  wealth,  or 
of  learning?  Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His 
righteousness,  and  these  things  shall  be  added  unto 
you.  In  the  lowest  of  men,  not  less  than  in  such  as  are 
called  greatest,  burns  this  lamp  of  Divine  Truth,  and 
it  shall  shine  for  the  hind  as  brightly  as  for  the  prince. 
In  its  rays  the  trappings  of  royalty  are  rags,  jewels  are 

183 

' 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

dust  and  ashes,  the  lore  of  science  folly;  the  disputes 
of  philosophers  the  crackling  of  thorns  under  the  pot. 
By  the  Inner  Light  alone  can  men  be  free  and  equal, 
true  sons  of  God,  heirs  of  a  liberty  which  can  never 
be  taken  away,  since  bars  confine  not  the  spirit,  nor 
do  tortures  or  death  of  the  body  afflict  it.  So  said 
George  Fox  and  his  followers ;  and  their  lives  bore  wit- 
ness to  their  words. 

The  Society  of  Friends  took  its  rise  not  from  a  dis- 
covery— for  Fox  himself  held  the  Demon  of  Socrates, 
and  similar  traditional  phenomena,  to  be  identical 
with  the  Inner  Light,  or  voice  of  the  Spirit — but  rather 
in  the  recognition  of  the  universality  of  something 
which  had  heretofore  been  regarded  as  exceptional  and 
extraordinary.  In  the  Seventeenth  Century  there  was 
a  general  revolt  of  the  oppressed  against  oppression, 
declaring  itself  in  all  phases  of  the  outer  and  inner 
life;  of  these  there  must  needs  be  one  interior  to  all 
the  rest,  and  Quakerism  seems  to  have  been  it.  It  was 
a  revolution  within  revolutions;  it  saw  in  the  man's 
own  self  the  only  tyrant  who  could  really  enslave  him ; 
and  by  bringing  him  into  the  direct  presence  of  God,  it 
showed  him  the  way  to  the  only  real  emancipation. 
Historically,  it  was  the  vital  element  in  all  other  eman- 
cipating movements;  it  was  their  logical  antecedent: 
the  hidden  spring  feeding  all  their  rivers  with  the 
water  of  life.  It  enables  us  to  analyze  them  and  gauge 
their  values;  it  is  their  measure  and  plummet.  And 
this  not  because  it  is  the  final  or  the  highest  word 
justifying  the  ways  of  God  to  man — for  it  has  not 
proved  to  be  so :  but  because  it  indicated,  once  for  all, 
in  what  direction  the  real  solution  of  the  riddle  of  man 
was  to  be  sought :  a  riddle  never  to  be  fully  solved,  but 
forever  approximately  guessed.  Quakerism  has  not 
maintained  its  relative  position  in  religious  thought; 
but  it  was  the  finest  perception  of  its  day,  and  in  the 
turmoil  of  the  time  it  fulfilled  its  purpose.  Probably 
its  best  effect  was  the  development  it  gave  to  the  hum- 
bler element  of  society — to  the  yeomen  and  laborers ; 
affording  them  the  needed  justification  for  the  various 
demands  for  recognition  that  they  were  urging.  Puri- 

184 


QUAKER,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 

tanism  banished  Quakers,  and  even  hanged  them;  but 
the  Quaker  was  the  Puritan's  spiritual  father,  although 
he  knew  it  not.  And  therefore  the  Quaker,  who  was 
among  the  last  to  appear  in  America  as  a  settler  in 
virgin  soil,  had  a  right  thereto  prior  to  any  one  of 
the  others.  There  must  be  a  soul  before  there  can 
be"  a  body. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  soul  without  a  body  is  not 
adapted  to  life  in  this  world ;  and  an  America  peopled 
exclusively  by  Quakers  would  have  been  unsatisfactory. 
It  is  a  prevailing  tendency  of  man,  having  hit  upon  a 
truth,  to  begin  to  theorize  upon  it,  and,  as  the  phrase 
is,  run  it  into  the  ground.  Quakers  would  not  fight, 
would  not  take  an  oath,  would  not  baptize,  or  wear 
mourning  or  flatter  the  senses  with  pictures  and  stat- 
ues. A  Quaker  would  resist  evil  and  violence  only  by 
enlightening  them.  He  would  not  be  taxed  for  meas- 
ures or  objects  which  he  did  not  approve.  He  could  see 
but  one  way  of  reforming  the  world,  and  thought  that 
God  was  equally  circumscribed  in  His  methods.  But 
though  the  leaven  may  make  bread  wholesome,  we  can- 
not subsist  on  leaven  alone.  The  essence  of  American- 
ism may  be  in  a  Quaker,  but  he  is  far  from  being  a 
complete  American,  and  therefore  he  was  fain  to  take 
his  place  only  as  a  noble  ingredient  in  that  wonderful 
mixture.  By  degrees  the  singularities  which  distin- 
guished him  were  softened ;  his  thee  and  thy  yielded  to 
the  common  forms  of  speech;  his  drab  suit  altered  its 
cut  and  hue ;  his  hat  came  off  occasionally ;  his  women 
abated  the  rigor  of  their  poke  bonnets;  he  was  able  to 
say  to  the  enemy  of  his  country,  "Friend,  thee  is 
standing  just  where  I  am  going  to  shoot."  The  disin- 
tegration of  his  individuality  set  free  the  good  that 
was  in  him  to  permeate  surrounding  society;  his  fel- 
low flowers  in  the  garden  were  more  beautiful  and 
fragrant  for  his  sake. 

When  persecution  of  Quakers  was  at  its  worst,  they 
became  almost  dehumanized,  attaching  more  value  to 
their  willingness  to  endure  ill-usage  than  to  the  spirit- 
ual principle  for  avouching  which  they  were  ill  used. 
Many  persons — such  is  the  oddity  of  human  nature — 

185 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

were  drawn  to  the  sect  for  love  of  the  persecution ;  and 
gave  way  to  extravagances  such  as  Fox  would  have 
been  the  first  to  denounce.  But  when  toleration  began, 
these  excesses  ceased,  and  they  bethought  themselves 
to  make  a  home  in  the  wilderness  of  their  own.  There 
was  room  enough.  George  Fox  returned  from  his  pil- 
grimage to  the  Atlantic  colonies  in  1674,  with  good  ac- 
counts of  the  resources  of  the  new  country;  and  the 
owner  of  New  Jersey  sold  half  of  it  to  John  Fenwick 
for  a  thousand  pounds;  and  the  next  year  the  latter 
went  there  with  many  friends,  and  picked  out  a  pleas- 
ant spot  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Delaware  for  the  first 
settlement,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Salem.  It 
was  at  this  juncture  that  William  Penn  became,  with 
two  others,  assigns  of  the  proprietor  of  the  colony,  and 
thus  took  the  first  step  toward  assuming  full  respon- 
sibility for  it.  He  did  not,  however,  personally  visit 
America  till  seven  years  later. 

Penn  was  the  son  of  an  English  admiral:  not  the 
kind  of  timber,  therefore,  out  of  which  one  would  have 
supposed  a  great  apostle  of  nouresistance  could  be 
made.  He  was  brought  up  to  the  use  of  ample  wealth, 
and  his  training  and  education  were  aristocratic.  After 
leaving  Oxford,  he  made  the  grand  tour,  and  came 
home  a  finished  young  man  of  the  world,  with  the  pleas- 
ures and  rewards  of  life  before  him.  He  had  good 
brains  and  solid  qualities,  and  the  old  admiral  had 
high  hopes  of  him.  No  doubt  he  would  have  made  a 
very  good  figure  in  the  English  world  of  fashion;  but 
destiny  had  another  career  marked  out  for  him. 

The  plain  man  with  the  leather  breeches  got  hold 
of  him ;  and  all  the  objurgations,  threats,  and  even  the 
act  of  disinheritance  of  the  admiral  were  powerless  to 
extricate  him  from  that  grasp.  Penn  had  found  some- 
thing which  seemed  to  him  more  precious  than  rubies, 
and  he  was  quite  as  resolute  as  the  old  hero  of  the 
navy.  Penn  could  endure  the  beating  and  the  being 
turned  into  the  streets,  but  he  could  not  stop  his  ears 
and  eyes  to  the  voice  and  light  of  God  in  his  soul.  He 
did  not  care  to  conquer  another  Jamaica,  but  he  pas- 
sionately desired  to  minister  to  the  spiritual  good  of 

186 


QUAKER,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 

his  fellow  creatures.  He  was  of  a  sociable  and  cheerful 
disposition;  he  could  disarm  his  adversary  in  a  duel; 
he  could  take  charge  of  the  family  estates,  and  qualify 
himself  for  the  law ;  the  King  was  ready  to  smile  upon 
him ;  but  all  worldly  ambitions  died  away  in  him  when 
he  heard  Thomas  Lee  testify  of  the  faith  that  over- 
comes the  world.  Nothing  less  than  that  would  satisfy 
Penn.  In  1666,  when  he  was  two  and  twenty,  he  made 
acquaintance  with  the  inside  of  a  jail  on  account  of 
his  conscientious  perversities;  but  the  only  effect  of 
the  experience  was  to  make  him  perceive  that  he  had 
thereby  become  "his  own  freeman."  When  he  got  out, 
his  friends  cut  him  and  society  made  game  of  him; 
finally  he  was  lodged  in  the  Tower,  which,  he  informed 
Charles  II,  seemed  to  him  "the  worst  argument  in  the 
world."  They  let  him  out  in  less  than  a  year,  but  in 
less  than  a  year  more  he  was  again  arrested  and  put 
on  trial.  The  jury,  after  having  been  starved  for  two 
davs  and  heartily  cursed  by  the  judge,  brought  him  in 
not  guilty ;  upon  which  the  judge,  with  a  fine  sense  of 
humor,  fined  them  all  heavily  aud4sent  him  back  to 
prison.  But  this  was  too  much  for  the  admiral,  who 
paid  his  fines  and  got  him  out;  and,  being  then  on  his 
deathbed,  surrendered  at  discretion,  restoring  to  him 
the  inheritance,  and  observing,  not  without  a  pensive 
satisfaction,  that  he  and  his  friends  would  end  by 
"making  an  end  of  the  priests." 

A  six  months'  term  in  Newgate  was  still  in  store  for 
Penn;  but  after  that  they  gave  up  this  method  of  re- 
forming him.  He  spent  the  next  years  in  exhorting 
Parliament  and  reproving  princes  all  over  Europe; 
and  in  the  midst  of  these  labors  he  met  one  of  the  best 
and  most  beautiful  women  in  England ;  she  had  suitors 
by  the  score,  but  she  loved  William  Penn,  and  they  were 
married.  She  was  the  wife  of  his  mind  and  soul  as 
well  as  of  his  bed  and  board.  He  was  now  doubly  forti- 
fied against  the  world,  and  doubly  bound  to  his  career 
of  human  benevolence.  His  studies  and  meditations 
had  made  him  a  profound  philosopher  and  an  able 
statesman;  and  in  all  ways  he  was  prepared  to  begin 
the  great  work  of  his  life. 

187 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Meanwhile  the  Quakers  in  the  new  world  were  build- 
ing up  the  framework  of  their  State.  They  decreed  to 
put  the  power  in  the  people,  and  all  the  articles  of  their 
Constitution  embody  the  utmost  degree  of  freedom, 
with  constant  opportunities  for  the  electors  to  revise 
or  renew  their  judgments.  When  the  agent  of  the  Duke 
of  York  levied  customs  on  ships  going  to  New  Jersey, 
the  act  drew  from  the  colonists  a  remarkable  protest, 
which  was  supported  by  the  courts.  They  had  planted 
in  the  wilderness,  they  said,  in  order,  among  other 
things,  to  escape  arbitrary  taxation;  if  they  could  not 
make  their -own  laws  in  a  land  which  they  had  bought, 
not  from  the  Duke,  but  from  the  natives,  they  had  lost 
instead  of  gaining  liberty  by  leaving  England.  Taxes 
levied  upon  planting  left  them  nothing  to  call  their 
own,  and  foreshadowed  a  despotic  government  in  Eng- 
land, when  the  Duke  should  come  to  the  throne.  The 
future  James  II  gave  up  his  claim,  and  in  1680  signed 
an  indenture  to  that  effect.  Later,  at  the  advice  of 
Penn,  they  so  amended  their  Constitution  as  to  give 
them  power  to  elect  their  own  Governor.  A  charter  was 
drawn  up  by  Penn  and  confirmed  in  1681,  and  he  be- 
came proprietor.  No  man  ever  assumed  such  a  trust 
with  less  of  personal  ambition  or  desire  for  gain  than 
he.  "You  shall  be  governed  by  laws  of  your  own  mak- 
ing," said  he;  "I  shall  not  usurp  the  right  of  any,  or 
oppress  his  person."  He  had  already  made  inroads  on 
his  estate  by  fighting  the  cause  of  his  brethren  in  Eng- 
land in  the  courts;  but  when  a  speculator  offered  him 
six  thousand  pounds  down  and  an  annual  income  for 
the  monopoly  of  Indian  trade,  he  declined  it ;  the  trade 
belonged  to  his  people.  He  was  ardently  desirous  to 
benefit  his  colony  by  putting  in  operation  among  them 
the  schemes  which  his  wisdom  had  evolved;  but  he 
would  not  override  their  own  wishes;  they  should  be 
secured  even  from  his  power  to  do  them  good;  for,  as 
liberty  without  obedience  is  confusion,  so  is  obedience 
without  liberty  slavery.  Instead  therefore  of  imposing 
his  designs  upon  them,  he  submitted  them  for  their 
free  consideration.  Pennsylvania  now  occupied  its 
present  boundaries,  with  the  addition  of  Delaware; 

188 


QUAKER,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 

and  western  New  Jersey  ceased  to  be  the  nominal  home 
of  the  Friends  in  America.  In  1682,  Penn  embarked  for 
the  Delaware.  He  had  founded  a  free  colony  for  all 
mankind,  believing  that  God  is  in  every  conscience; 
and  he  was  now  going  to  witness  and  superintend  the 
working  of  his  "holy  experiment." 

On  October  29  he  was  received  at  Newcastle  by  a 
crowd  of  mixed  nationality,  and  the  Duke  of  York's 
agent  formally  delivered  up  the  province  to  him.  The 
journey  up  the  Delaware  was  continued  in  an  open 
boat,  and  the  site  of  Philadelphia  was  reached  in  the 
first  week  of  November.  There  a  meeting  of  delegates 
from  the  inhabitants  was  held  and  the  rules  which  were 
to  govern  them  were  reviewed  and  ratified.  Among 
these  it  was  stipulated  that  every  Christian  sect  was 
eligible  to  office,  that  murder  only  was  a  capital  crime, 
that  marriage  was  a  civil  contract,  that  convict  prisons 
should  be  workhouses,  that  all  who  paid  duties  should 
be  electors,  and  that  there  should  be  no  poor  rates  or 
tithes.  Then  Penn  proceeded  to  lay  out  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  where  they  "might  improve  an  innocent 
course  of  life  on  a  virgin  Elysian  shore."  It  was  here 
that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  signed 
ninety-three  years  afterward. 

In  March,  before  the  leaves  had  budded  on  the  tall 
trees  whose  colonnades  were  as  yet  the  only  habitation 
for  the  emigrants,  the  latter  set  to  work  to  settle  their 
Constitution.  "Amend,  alter  or  add  as  you  please," 
was  the  recommendation  with  which  Penn  submitted 
it  to  them — the  work  of  his  ripest  wisdom  and  loving 
good  will.  To  the  Governor  and  council  it  assigned  the 
suggestion  of  all  laws;  these  suggestions  were  then  to 
be  submitted  by  the  Assembly  to  the  body  of  the  people, 
who  thus  became  the  direct  lawmakers.  To  Penn  was 
given  the  power  to  negative  the  doings  of  the  council, 
he  being  responsible  for  all  legislation;  but  he  could 
originate  and  enforce  nothing.  He  would  accept  no 
revenues ;  and,  indeed,  except  in  the  way  of  helpfulness 
and  counsel,  never  in  any  way  imposed  himself  upon 
his  people.  He  was  the  proprietor ;  but  in  all  practical 
respects,  Pennsylvania  was  a  representative  democracy. 

189 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

That  they  should  be  tree  and  happy  was  his  sole  desire. 
In  its  relations  with  the  Indians  the  colony  was  singu- 
larly fortunate;  the  doctrine  of  nonresistance  suc- 
ceeded best  where  least  might  have  been  expected  from 
it.  All  lands  were  purchased,  conferences  being  held 
and  deeds  signed;  and  the  red  men  were  given  thor- 
oughly to  understand  that  nothing  but  mutual  good 
was  intended.  They  took  to  the  new  idea  kindly;  the 
law  of  retaliation  had  been  the  principle  of  their  lives 
hitherto;  but  if  a  man  did  good  to  them,  and  dealt 
honestly  by  them,  should  not  they  retaliate  by  mani- 
festing the  same  integrity  and  good  will?  At  one  time 
it  was  reported  that  a  band  of  Indians  had  assembled 
on  the  border  with  the  design  of  avenging  some  griev- 
ance with  a  massacre.  Six  unarmed  Quakers  started 
at  once  for  the  scene  of  trouble,  and  the  Indians  sub- 
sided. It  has  long  been  admitted  that  it  takes  two 
sides  to  make  a  fight;  but  this  was  an  indication  that 
it  needs  resistance  to  make  a  massacre.  Penn,  who 
was  fond  of  visiting  the  Indians  in  their  wigwams 
and  sharing  their  hospitality,  formed  an  excellent  opin- 
ion of  them.  He  discoursed  to  them  on  their  rights  as 
men,  and  of  their  privileges  as  immortal  souls;  and 
they  conceded  to  him  his  claim  to  peaceful  possession 
of  his  province.  Not  less  remarkable  was  the  fate  of 
witchcraft  in  Pennsylvania.  The  Swedes  and  Finns  be- 
lieved in  witches,  upon  the  authority  of  their  native 
traditions;  and  a  woman  of  their  race  having  acted  in 
a  violent  and  unaccountable  manner,  they  put  her  on 
her  trial  for  witchcraft.  Both  Swedes  and  Quakers 
composed  the  jury ;  there  were  no  hysterics ;  the  matter 
was  dispassionately  canvassed,  impressions  and  prej- 
udices were  not  accepted  as  evidence;  and  in  the  end 
the  verdict  was  that  though  she  was  guilty  of  being 
called  a  witch,  a  witch  she  nevertheless  was  not.  The 
distinction  was  so  well  taken  that  no  more  witch  trials 
or  panics  occurred.  This  was  in  1684,  eight  years  be- 
fore the  disasters  in  New  England.  But  newspapers  did 
not  exist  in  those  days,  and  public  opinion  was  un- 
developed. 

The  colony,  receiving  a  world-wide  advertisement  by 

190 


QUAKER,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 

dint  of  the  excellence  of  its  institutions  and  the  singu- 
larity of  its  principles,  became  a  magnet  to  draw  to  it- 
self the  "good  and  oppressed"  of  all  Europe.  There 
were  a  good  many  of  them;  and  within  a  couple  of 
years  from  the  time  when  Philadelphia  meant  blaze 
marks  on  trees  and  three  or  four  cottages,  it  had  grown 
to  be  a  real  town  of  six  hundred  houses.  The  colony 
altogether  mustered  eight  thousand  people.  With  jus- 
tifiable confidence,  therefore,  that  all  was  well,  and 
would  stay  so,  Penn,  with  many  loving  words  for  his 
people,  returned  to  England  to  continue  the  defense  of 
the  afflicted  there.  A  dispute  as  to  the  right  boundaries 
of  Delaware  and  Maryland  was  also  to  be  determined ; 
but  it  proved  to  be  a  lingering  negotiation,  chiefly 
noteworthy  on  account  of  its  leading  to  the  fixing  of 
the  line  by  Charles  Mason  and  Jeremiah  Dixon,  which 
afterward  became  the  recognized  boundary  between 
the  States  where  slaves  might  be  owned  and  those  where 
they  might  not.  The  line  was  surveyed,  finally,  in  1767. 
Penn  being  gone,  the  people  applied  themselves  to 
experimenting  with  their  Constitution.  A  constitution 
which  is  devised  to  secure  liberty  to  the  subject,  in- 
cluding liberty  to  modify  or  change  it,  is  as  nearly 
unchangeable  as  any  mortal  structure  can  be.  The  in- 
habitants of  Pennsylvania  had  never  known  before 
what  it  was  to  be  free,  and  they  naturally  wished  to 
test  the  new  gift  or  quality  in  every  way  open  to  them. 
Not  having  the  trained  brain  and  unselfish  wisdom  that 
belonged  to  Peiin,  of  which  the  Constitution  was  the 
offspring,  they  thought  that  they  could  improve  its 
provisions.  But  the  more  earnestly  they  labored  to  this 
end  the  more  surely  were  they  brought  to  the  confes- 
sion that  he  had  known  how  to  make  them  free  better 
than  they  themselves  did.  When  they  resolved  against 
taxes  they  found  themselves  without  revenue;  when 
they  refused  to  discipline  a  debtor  they  found  that 
credit  was  no  longer  to  be  had.  They  fussed  and 
fretted  to  their  hearts'  content,  and  no  great  harm 
came  of  it,  because  the  Constitution  was  always  await- 
ing them  with  forgiveness  when  they  had  tired  them- 
selves with  abusing  it.  The  only  important  matter  that 

191 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

came  to  judgment  was  the  slavery  question ;  Penn  him- 
self had  slaves,  though  he  came  to  doubt  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  practice,  and  liberated  them  in  his  will — 
or  would  have  done  so,  had  the  injunction  been  carried 
out  by  his  heirs.  Slaves  in  Pennsylvania  were  to  serve 
as  such  for  fourteen  years,  and  then  become  adscripts 
of  the  soil — that  is  to  say,  they  were  permitted  to  be- 
come the  same  thing  under  another  name.  Penn  ul- 
timately conceived  the  ambition  to  vindicate  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Inner  Light  in  the  negroes'  souls;  but  he 
met  with  small  success — even  less  than  with  the  In- 
dians. The  problem  of  the  negro  was  not  to  be  solved 
in  that  way,  or  at  that  time.  No  doubt,  if  a  negro  slave 
could  be  made  to  feel  that  the  mere  circumstance  of 
external  bondage  was  nothing,  so  long  as  his  inner 
man  was  untrammeled,  it  would  add  greatly  to  the 
convenience  both  of  himself  and  his  master.  But  the 
theory  did  not  seem  to  carry  weight  so  long  as  the 
practice  accompanied  it;  and  the  world,  even  of  Penn- 
sylvania, was  not  quite  ready  to  abolish  negro  slavery 
in  1687. 

Of  the  thirteen  colonies  twelve  had  now  had  their 
beginning,  and  Georgia,  the  home  of  poor  debtors,  shed 
little  or  no  fresh  light  upon  the  formation  of  the  Ameri- 
can principle.  The  Revolution  of  1688,  which  put  Wil- 
liam of  Orange  on  the  English  throne,  was  now  at 
hand;  but  before  examining  its  effect  upon  the  Ameri- 
can settlements  we  must  cast  a  glance  at  the  transac- 
tions of  the  previous  dozen  years  in  the  New  Eng- ' 
land  division. 

The  theory  of  the  English  Government  regarding  the 
American  colonies  had  always  been  that  they  were  her 
property.  The  people  who  emigrated  had  been  English 
subjects,  and — to  adapt  the  Latin  proverb — Caslum, 
non  Regem,  mutant,  qui  trans  mare  currunt.  More- 
over, the  English,  as  was  the  custom  of  the  age,  as- 
serted jurisdiction  over  all  land  first  seen  and  claimed 
by  mariners  flying  their  flag;  and  though  Spain  and 
France  might  claim  America  with  quite  as  much  right 
as  England,  yet  the  latter  would  not  acknowledge  their 
pretensions.  A  country,  then,  occupied  by  English  sub- 

192 


QUAKEK,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 

jects,  and  owned  by  England,  could  not  reasonably  as- 
sert its  private  independence. 

Such  was  England's  position,  from  which  she  never 
fully  receded  until  compelled  to  do  so  by  force  of  arms. 
But  the  colonists  looked  at  the  matter  from  a  different 
point  of  view.  They  held  the  right  of  ownership  by  dis- 
covery to  be  unsubstantial ;  it  was  a  mere  sentiment — 
a  matter  of  national  pride  and  prestige — not  to  be 
valued  when  it  came  in  conflict  with  the  natural  right 
conveyed  by  actual  emigration  and  settlement.  The 
man  who  transferred  himself  with  his  family  and  prop- 
erty to  a  virgin  country,  intending  to  make  his  perma- 
nent home  there,  should  not  be  subject  to  arbitrary 
interference  from  anyone;  his  vital  interests  and  wel- 
fare were  involved ;  he  should  be  ruled  by  authority  ap- 
pointed by  himself;  should  pay  only  such  taxes  as  he 
himself  levied  for  the  expenses  of  his  establishment; 
and  should  enjoy  the  profits  of  whatever  products  he 
raised  and  whatever  commerce  he  carried  on.  He  had 
withdrawn  himself  from  participation  in  the  advan- 
tages of  home  civilization,  and  had  voluntarily  faced  a 
life  of  struggle  and  peril  in  the  wilderness,  precisely 
because  he  had  counted  these  things  as  nothing  in  com- 
parison with  the  gain  of  controlling  his  own  affairs; 
but  if,  nevertheless,  the  mother  country  insisted  on 
managing  them,  or  in  any  way  controlling  him,  then  all 
enterprise  became  vain,  all  his  sacrifices  had  been  fruit- 
less, and  he  was  in  all  ways  worse  off  than  before  he 
took  steps  to  better  himself.  An  Englishman  living 
in  England  might  rightly  be  taxed  for  the  protection 
to  life  and  property  and  the  enjoyment  of  privileges 
which  she  afforded  him,  and  which  he,  through  a  repre- 
sentative Parliament,  created;  but  England  gave  no 
protection  to  her  colonies,  and  the  colonists  were  not 
represented  in  her  Parliament ;  neither  had  the  English 
Government  been  put  to  any  expense  or  trouble  in 
bringing  those  colonies  into  existence;  to  tax  them, 
therefore,  was  an  act  of  despotism;  it  deprived  them 
of  the  right  .which  all  Englishmen  possessed  to  the 
fruits  of  their  own  labor ;  it  robbed  them  of  values  for 
which  no  equivalent  had  been  yielded;  and  thus,  from 

U.S.— 7    VOL.  I  193 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

freemen,  made  them  slaves.  Not  less  unjustifiable,  for 
the  same  reasons,  was  interference  with  colonial  gov- 
ernments, and  with  religious  liberties  of  all  kinds. 

England  could  not  categorically  refute  these  argu- 
ments; but  she  could  reply  that  her  granting  of  a 
charter  to  the  colonies  had  implied  some  hold  upon 
them,  including  a  first  lien  upon  commercial  products ; 
while,  so  far  as  governmental  jurisdiction  was  con- 
cerned, it  might  be  considered  an  open  question  whether 
the  colonies  were  capable  of  adequately  governing 
themselves,  and  she  was  therefore  warranted,  in  the 
interests  of  order,  in  exercising  that  function  herself. 
But  the  reply  was  a  weak  one ;  and  when  the  colonists 
rejoined  that  the  charter,  if  it  had  any  practical  signi- 
ficance at  all,  merely  gave  expression  to  a  friendly  in- 
terest in  the  adventure,  as  a  parent  might  give  a  son  a 
letter  hoping  that  he  would  do  well ;  and  that  the  ques- 
tion of  government  was  not  an  open  one,  inasmuch  as 
the  orderliness  and  efficiency  of  their  institutions  were 
visible  and  undeniable :  it  was  left  to  England  only  to 
say  that  once  an  English  subject  always  an  English 
subject,  and  that  when  she  commanded  the  colonies 
must  comply. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  she  avoided  as  much  as  possible 
putting  this  ultimatum  in  precise  words;  and  the 
colonies  were  at  least  as  reluctant  to  oppose  a  definite 
defiance.  Diplomacy  labors  long  before  acknowledging 
a  finality.  There  was  on  both  sides  a  deeply  rooted  de- 
termination to  prevail;  but  an  open  rupture  was 
shunned.  Furthermore  a  strong  sentiment  of  loyalty 
existed  in  the  colonies,  which  sentimentally  and  some- 
times practically  injured  the  logic  of  their  attitude. 
They  acknowledged  the  English  King  to  be  theirs ;  they 
addressed  him  in  deferential  and  submissive  terms; 
they  wished,  in  some  sense,  to  keep  hold  of  their 
mother's  hand,  and  yet  they  protested  against  the  ma- 
ternal prerogative.  Their  status  was  anomalous;  and 
it  is  easy  to  say  that  they  should  have  declared  their 
purpose  from  the  first  to  be  an  independent  nation  in 
the  full  sense  of  the  word.  But  the  logical  and  the 
natural  are  often  at  variance.  Liberty  is  not  iieces- 

194 


QUAKER,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 

sarily  attainable  only  through  political  independence. 
The  colonists,  if  they  wished  to  be  another  England 
in  miniature,  had  not  contemplated  becoming  a  people 
foreign  to  England,  in  the  sense  that  France  or  Spain 
was.  They  loved  the  English  flag,  in  spite  of  the  cross 
which  Eiulicott  disowned :  they  were  proud  of  the  Eng- 
lish history  which  was  also  theirs.  Why  should  they 
sever  themselves  from  these?  It  was  not  until  English 
injustice  and  selfishness,  long  endured,  became  at  last 
unendurable  that  the  resolve  to  live  truly  independent, 
or  to  die,  fired  the  muskets  of  Lexington  and  Concord. 
The  most  galling  of  the  measures  which  weighed 
upon  New  England  was  that  called  the  Navigation  Acts. 
These  were  passed  in  the  interests  of  the  English  trad- 
ing class,  and  by  their  influence.  In  their  original  form, 
in  1651,  they  had  involved  no  serious  injury  to  the  colo- 
nies, and  had,  moreover,  been  so  slackly  enforced  that 
they  were  almost  a  dead  letter.  But  after  Charles  II 
came  to  the  throne  they  assumed  a  more  virulent  as- 
pect. They  forbade  the  importation  into  the  colonies  of 
any  merchandise  except  in  English  bottoms,  captained 
by  Englishmen,  thus  excluding  from  American  ports 
every  cargo  not  owned  by  British  merchants.  On  the 
other  hand,  they  decreed  that  no  American  produce 
should  find  its  way  into  other  than  English  hands,  ex- 
cept such  things  as  the  English  did  not  want,  or  could 
buy  to  better  advantage  elsewhere;  and  even  these 
could  be  disposed  of  at  no  ports  nearer  England  than 
the  Mediterranean.  Next,  by  an  extension  of  the  Acts, 
the  inhabitants  of  one  colony  were  forbidden  to  deal 
with  those  of  another  except  on  payment  of  duties  in- 
tended to  be  prohibitory.  And,  finally,  the  colonists 
were  enjoined  not  to  manufacture  even  for  their  pri- 
vate consumption,  much  less  for  export,  any  goods  which 
English  manufacturers  produced.  They  could  do  noth- 
ing but  grow  crops,  and  the  only  reason  that  anything 
whatever  was  permitted  to  go  from  the  colonies  to 
foreign  ports  was  in  order  that  the  former  might  thus 
get  money  with  which  to  pay  for  the  forced  importa- 
tions from  England.  The  result  of  such  a  policy  was, 
of  course,  that  money  was  put  into  the  pockets  of 

195 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

English  shopkeepers,  but  all  other  Englishmen  gained 
nothing,  and  the  colonists  lost  the  amount  of  the 
shopkeepers'  profit,  as  well  as  the  incidental  and  in- 
calculable advantages  of  free  enterprise. 

These  laws  pressed  most  severely  on  Massachusetts, 
because  her  shipping  exceeded  that  of  all  the  other 
colonies,  and  the  smuggling  which  their  geographical 
peculiarities  made  easy  to  them  was  impossible  for  her. 
Besides,  manufacturing  was  never  followed  by  the 
southern  colonies,  and  their  chief  products,  tobacco 
and  cotton,  not  being  grown  elsewhere,  could  be  sold 
at  almost  as  good  a  profit  in  England  as  anywhere  else. 

But  if  Massachusetts  was  the  chief  object  of  these 
oppressive  measures,  she  was  also  more  inflexible  than 
the  other  colonies  in  insisting  upon  her  rights.  The 
motto  of  the  Rattlesnake  flag  carried  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Revolution — "Don't  tread  on  Me" — expressed 
the  temper  of  her  people  from  an  early  period  in  her 
history.  We  shall  shortly  see  how  resolutely  and  cour- 
ageously she  fought  her  battle  against  hopeless  odds. 
Meanwhile  we  may  inquire  how  and  why  the  other 
colonies  of  the  New  England  confederation  fared  better 
at  the  hands  of  the  mother  country. 

One  of  the  most  agreeable  figures  in  our  colonial 
history  is  the  son  of  that  John  Winthrop  who  brought 
the  first  colonists  to  Massachusetts  Bay,  on  June  22, 
1630.  He  had  been  born  at  Groton,  in  England,  in  1606, 
and  was  therefore  fifty-six  years  old  when  he  returned 
to  that  country  as  agent  for  Connecticut  and  obtained 
its  charter  from  Charles.  He  had  been  educated  at 
Dublin,  and  before  emigrating  to  the  colonies  had  been 
a  soldier  in  the  French  wars,  and  had  traveled  on  the 
Continent.  After  landing  at  Boston,  he  had  helped  his 
father  in  his  duties,  and  had  then  founded  the  town  of 
Ipswich  in  Massachusetts.  None  was  more  ardent  than 
he  in  the  work  of  preparing  a  home  for  the  exiles  in 
the  wilderness;  he  added  his  own  fortune  to  that  of 
his  father,  and  thought  no  effort  too  great.  In  him 
the  elements  were  so  kindly  mixed  that  his  heart  was 
as  warm  and  his  mind  as  liberal  as  his  energy  was  tire- 
less; it  was  as  if  a  Roger  Williams  had  been  mingled 

196 


QUAKER,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 

with  an  elder  Winthrop;  enthusiasm  and  charity  were 
tempered  with  judgment  and  discretion.  The  love  of 
creating  means  of  happiness  for  others  was  his  ruling 
motive,  and  he  was  gifted  with  the  ability  to  carry  it 
out;  he  felt  that  New  England  was  his  true  home  be- 
cause there  he  had  fullest  opportunity  for  his  self-ap- 
pointed work.  It  is  almost  an  effort  for  men  of  this 
age  to  conceive  of  a  nature  so  pure  as  this,  and  a 
character  so  blameless ;  we  search  the  records  for  some 
weakness  or  deformity.  But  all  witnesses  testify  of 
him  with  one  voice;  and  it  may  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  spirit  of  Puritanism  at  that  epoch  was  mighty  in 
the  individual  as  in  the  community,  purging  the  soul 
of  many  self-indulgent  vices  which  the  laxity  and  skep- 
ticism of  our  time  encourage;  and  when,  in  addition, 
there  is  a  nation  to  be  made  on  principles  so  lofty  as 
those  which  Puritanism  contemplated,  one  can  imagine 
that  there  would  be  little  space  for  the  development  of 
the  lower  instincts,  or  the  unworthier  ambitions.  When 
all  is  said,  however,  Winthrop  the  Younger  still  re- 
mains a  surprising  and  rare  type;  and  it  is  an  added 
pleasure  to  know  that  in  all  that  he  undertook  he  was 
successful  (he  never  undertook  anything  for  himself), 
and  that  he  was  most  happy  in  a  loving  wife  and  in  his 
children.  It  was  a  rounded  life,  such  as  a  romancer 
hardly  dares  to  draw;  yet  there  may  be  many  not  less 
lovely,  only  less  conspicuously  placed. 

When  there  was  need  for  a  man  to  go  to  England 
and  plead  before  the  King  for  Connecticut — of  which, 
for  fourteen  consecutive  years  thereafter,  he  was  an- 
nually elected  Governor — who  but  Winthrop  could  be 
selected?  He  went  with  all  the  prayers  of  the  colony 
for  his  good  fortune;  and  it  was  of  good  omen  that  he 
met  there,  in  the  council  for  the  colonies  appointed  by 
the  King,  Edward  Hyde,  first  Earl  of  Clarendon  and 
Lord  Chancellor,  then  in  the  prime  of  his  career,  and 
two  years  younger  than  Winthrop;  and  William 
Fiennes,  Viscount  Saye  and  Sele,  who  was  in  the 
eightieth  and  final  year  of  his  useful  and  honorable 
career,  and  who,  in  1632,  had  obtained  a  patent  for 
land  on  the  Connecticut  River.  Through  his  influence 

197 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  interest  of  the  Lord  Chamberlain  was  secured,  and 
Clarendon  himself  was  cordial  for  the  charter.  With 
such  support  the  way  was  easy,  and  the  document 
was  executed  in  April  of  1662.  It  gave  the  colonists  all 
the  powers  of  an  independent  government.  There  was 
no  reservation  whatever;  their  acts  were  not  subject 
even  to  royal  inspection.  Nevertheless,  Charles,  by 
effecting  the  amalgamation  of  New  Haven  with  Hart- 
ford, not  altogether  with  the  consent  of  the  former, 
arbitrarily  set  aside  the  provision  of  the  federation 
compact  which  forbade  union  between  any  of  its  mem- 
bers except  with  the  consent  of  all ;  and  thereby  he  as- 
serted his  jurisdiction  (if  he  chose  to  exercise  it)  over 
all  the  colonies.  He  could  give  gracious  gifts,  but  on 
the  understanding  that  they  were  of  grace,  not  obliga- 
tion. In  the  oppression  of  Massachusetts  this  served 
as  an  unfortunate  precedent. 

Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  the  happiness  of  Con- 
necticut was  in  part  due  to  the  fact  that,  as  a  matter 
of  high  policy,  it  was  desired  to  conciliate  her  at 
Massachusetts^  expense.  Massachusetts  was  much  the 
strongest  of  the  colonies;  her  tendency  to  disaffection 
was  known  in  England;  and  it  seemed  expedient  to 
place  her  in  a  position  isolated  from  her  sisters.  Were 
all  of  them  equally  wronged,  their  union  against  the 
oppressor  was  inevitable.  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island  could  be  of  small  present  value  to  England  from 
the  commercial  standpoint,  and  their  heartfelt  loyalty 
seemed  cheaply  purchased  by  suffering  that  value  to 
accumulate.  Charles  could  be  lavish  and  reckless,  and 
he  was  constitutionally  "good-humored" — that  is,  he 
liked  to  have  things  go  smoothly,  and  if  anybody  suf- 
fered, wished  the  fact  to  be  kept  out  of  his  sight.  But 
he  was  incapable  of  generosity,  in  the  sense  of  voluntar- 
ily sacrificing  any  selfish  interest  for  a  noble  end ;  and 
if  he  patted  Connecticut  on  the  back,  it  was  only  in 
order  that  she  might  view  with  toleration  his  highway 
robbery  of  her  sister. 

All  this,  however,  need  not  dash  our  satisfaction  at 
the  advantages  which  Connecticut  enjoyed,  and  the 
good  they  did  her.  The  climate  and  physical  nature  of 

198 


QUAKER,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 

the  country  required  an  active  and  wholesome  life  in 
the  inhabitants,  while  yet  the  conditions  were  not  so 
severe  as  to  discourage  them.  They  were  of  a  rustic, 
hardy,  industrious  temper,  of  virtuous  and  godly  life, 
and  animated  by  the  consciousness  of  being  well 
treated.  They  lived  and  labored  on  theirfarms,  and  there 
were  not  so  many  of  them  that  the  farms  crowded 
upon  one  another,  though  the  population  increased 
rapidly.  Each  of  them  delighted  in  the  cultivation  of 
his  private  "conscience";  and,  in  the  absence  of  wars 
and  oppressions,  they  argued  one  with  another  on 
points  of  theology,  fate,  free  will,  foreknowledge  abso- 
lute. They  were  far  from  indifferent  to  learning,  but 
they  liked  nothing  quite  so  well  as  manhood  and  in- 
tegrity. The  Connecticut  Yankee  impressed  his  char- 
acter on  American  history,  and  wherever  in  our  country 
there  has  been  evidence  of  pluck,  enterprise,  and  native 
intelligence,  it  has  generally  been  found  that  a  son  of 
Connecticut  was  not  far  off.  They  were  not  averse  from 
journeying  over  the  earth,  and  many  of  them  had  the 
pioneer  spirit,  and  left  their  place  of  birth  to  establish 
a  miniature  Connecticut  elsewhere;  their  descendants 
will  be  found  as  far  west  as  Oregon,  and  their  whalers 
knew  the  paths  of  the  Pacific  as  well  as  they  did  the 
channels  of  Long  Island  Sound.  Tolerant,  sturdy, 
pious,  shrewd,  prudent,  and  brave,  they  formed  the  best 
known  type  of  the  characteristic  New  Englander,  as 
represented  by  the  national  figure  of  Uncle  Sam.  They 
were  sociable  and  inquisitive,  yet  they  knew  how  to 
keep  their  own  counsel;  and  the  latchstring  hung  out 
all  over  the  colony,  in  testimony  at  once  of  their  honesty 
and  their  hospitality.  Few  things  came  to  them  from 
the  outer  world,  and  few  went  out  from  them ;  they  were 
industrially  as  well  as  politically  independent.  They 
were  economical  in  both  their  private  and  their  public 
habits ;  no  money  was  to  be  made  in  politics,  partly  be- 
cause everyone  was  from  his  youth  up  trained  in  polit- 
ical procedure;  every  town  was  a  republic  in  little. 
The  town  meeting  was  open  to  all  citizens,  and  each 
could  have  his  say  in  it,  and  many  an  acute  suggestion 
and  shrewd  criticism  came  from  humble  lips.  It  is  in 

199 


HISTOBY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

such  town  meetings  that  the  legislators  were  trained 
who  then,  and  ever  since,  have  become  leading  figures 
in  the  statesmanship  of  the  country.  In  England  a 
hereditary  aristocracy  were  educated  to  govern  the  na- 
tion; in  the  colonies  a  nation  was  educated  to  govern 
itself.  Our  system  was  the  sounder  and  the  safer  of  the 
two.  But  the  professional  politician  was  then  un- 
thought  of;  he  came  as  the  result  of  several  conditions 
incident  to  our  national  development;  he  has  perhaps 
already  touched  his  apogee,  and  is  beginning  to  disap- 
pear. The  nation  has  awakened  to  a  realization  that  its 
interests  are  not  safe  in  his  hands. 

Calvinism  prevailed  in  the  colony,  as  in  Massachu- 
setts; but  there  were  many  of  the  colonists  who  did 
not  attend  at  the  meetinghouse  on  the  Sabbath,  not 
because  they  were  irreligious  or  vicious,  but  either 
because  they  lived  far  from  the  rendezvous  or  because 
they  did  not  find  it  a  matter  of  private  conscience 
with  them  to  sit  in  a  pew  and  listen  to  a  sermon. 
Moreover,  it  was  the  rule  among  Calvinists  that  no 
one  could  join  in  the  communion  service  who  had  not 
"experienced  religion";  and  many  excellent  persons 
might  entertain  conscientious  doubts  whether  this  mys- 
terious subjective  phenomenon  had  taken  place  in  them. 
Pending  enlightenment  on  that  point,  they  would  nat- 
urally prefer  not  to  sit  beside  their  more  favored  breth- 
ren during  the  long  period  of  prayer  and  discourse, 
only  to  be  obliged  to  walk  out  when  the  vital  stage 
of  the  proceedings  was  reached.  But  it  was  also  the 
law  that  only  children  of  communicants  should  receive 
baptism;  and  since  not  to  be  baptized  was  in  the  reli- 
gious opinion  of  the  day  to  court  eternal  destruction, 
it  will  easily  be  understood  that  noncommunicating 
parents  were  rendered  very  uneasy.  What  could  they 
do  ?  One  cannot  get  religion  by  an  act  of  will ;  but  not 
to  get  it  was  to  imperil  not  only  their  own  spiritual 
welfare,  but  that  of  their  innocent  offspring  as  well; 
they  were  damned  to  all  posterity.  The  matter  came 
up  before  the  General  Court  of  Connecticut,  and  in 
1657  a  synod  composed  of  ministers  of  that  colony 
and  of  Massachusetts — New  Haven  and  Plymouth  de- 

200 


QUAKER,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 

clining  to  participate — sat  upon  the  question  and  soft- 
ened the  hard  fate  of  the  petitioners  so  far  as  to  per- 
mit the  baptism  of  the  children  of  unbaptized  persons 
who  engaged  to  rear  them  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord. 
This  "halfway  covenant,"  as  it  came  to  be  termed,  did 
not  suit  the  scruples  of  Calvinists  of  the  stricter  sort ; 
but  it  gave  comfort  to  a  great  many  deserving  folk,  and 
probably  did  harm  to  no  human  soul,  here  or  hereafter. 
Short  are  the  annals  of  a  happy  people;  until  the 
Revolutionary  days  began,  there  is  little  to  tell  of  Con- 
necticut. The  collegiate  school  which  half  a  genera- 
tion later  grew  into  the  college  taking  its  name  from 
its  chief  benefactor,  Elihu  Yale,  had  its  early  days  in 
the  village  at  the  mouth  of  the  Connecticut  River, 
named,  after  Lord  Saye  and  Sele,  Saybrook.  The  in- 
stitution of  learning  called  after  the  pious  and  erudite 
son  of  the  English  butcher  of  Southwark,  founded  on 
the  banks  of  the  river  Charles  near  Boston,  had  come 
into  existence  more  than  sixty  years  before;  but  Yale 
followed  less  than  forty  years  after  the  granting  of  the 
Connecticut  charter.  New  England  people  never  lost 
any  time  about  securing  the  means  of  education. 

The  boundaries  of  Rhode  Island  were  the  occasion 
of  some  trouble ;  though  one  might  have  supposed  that 
since  the  area  which  they  inclosed  was  so  small  no 
one  would  have  been  at  the  pains  to  dispute  them. 
But  in  the  end  Roger  Williams  obtained  the  little  he 
had  asked  for  in  this  regard,  while  as  to  liberties  his 
charter  made  his  community  at  least  as  well  off  as 
was  Connecticut.  Their  aspiration  to  be  allowed  to 
prove  that  the  best  civil  results  may  be  coincident  with 
complete  religious  freedom  was  realized.  Charles  gave 
them  everything;  liberty  for  a  people  who  thought  more 
of  God  than  of  their  breakfasts,  and  whose  habitation 
was  too  small  for  its  representation  on  the  map  to  be 
seen  without  a  magnifying  glass,  could  not  be  a  dan- 
gerous gift.  The  charter  was  delivered  in  1663  to  John 
Clarke,  agent  in  England  for  the  colony,  and  was  taken 
to  Rhode  Island  by  the  admirable  Baxter  in  November 
of  that  year.  All  the  two  thousand  or  more  inhabitants 

201 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

of  the  colony  met  together  to  receive  the  precious  gift ; 
Baxter,  placed  on  high,  read  it  out  to  them  with  his 
best  voice  and  delivery,  and-  then  held  it  up  so  that  all 
might  behold  the  handsomely  engrossed  parchment  and 
the  sacred  seal  of  his  dread  Majesty  King  Charles. 
What  a  picture  of  democratic  and  childlike  simplic- 
ity! With  how  devout  and  earnest  an  exultation  did 
the  people  murmur  their  thanks  and  applause!  The 
crowd  in  their  conical  hats  and  dark  cloaks,  the  chill 
November  sky,  the  gray  ripples  of  Narragansett  Bay, 
the  background  of  forest  trees,  of  which  only  the  oaks 
and  walnuts  still  retained  the  red  and  yellow  rem- 
nants of  their  autumn  splendor;  the  quaint  little  ship 
at  anchor,  with  its  bearded  crew  agape  along  the  rail, 
and  Baxter  the  center  of  all  eyes,  holding  up  the  char- 
ter with  a  sort  of  holy  enthusiasm !  Such  a  scene  could 
be  but  once;  and  time  has  brought  about  his  revenges. 
With  what  demeanor  would  the  throng  at  the  fashion- 
able watering  place  greet  a  messenger  from  the  English 
sovereign  to-day!  John  Clarke,  the  Bedfordshire  doc- 
tor, to  whose  fidelity  and  persistent  care  the  colony 
owed  much,  fully  participated  in  the  contagion  of  good- 
ness which  marked  the  New  England  emigrants  of  the 
period.  He  served  his  fellow  colonists  all  his  life,  and 
at  his  death  left  them  all  he  had ;  and  it  seems  strange 
that  he  should  have  been  one  of  the  founders  of  aris- 
tocratic Newport,  and  its  earliest  pastor.  But  it  is  not 
the  only  instance  of  the  unexpected  use  to  which  we 
sometimes  put  the  bequests  of  our  ancestors. 

The  early  vicissitudes  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and 
Vermont  are  hardly  of  importance  enough  to  warrant 
a  detailed  examination.  Vermont  was  not  settled  till 
well  into  the  Eighteenth  Century.  Maine  had  been 
fingered  by  the  French,  and  used  as  a  base  of  opera- 
tions by  fishermen,  long  before  its  connection  with 
Massachusetts;  the  persistency  of  Gorges  complicated 
its  position  for  more  than  forty  years.  After  his  death, 
and  in  the  irresponsiveness  of  his  heirs,  the  few  in-  , 
habitants  of  the  region  were  constrained  to  shift  for 
themselves;  in  1652  the  jurisdiction  was  found  to  ex- 

202 


QUAKER,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 

tend  three  miles  north  of  the  source  of  the  Merrimac, 
and  Massachusetts,  offering  its  protection  in  enabling 
a  government  to  be  formed,  and  acting  upon  the  pri- 
ority of  its  grant,  annexed  the  whole  specified  region. 
But  more  than  twenty  years  afterward,  in  1677,  the 
English  committee  of  the  Privy  Council  examined  the 
charter  and  found  that  Massachusetts  had  no  jurisdic- 
tion over  Maine  and  New  Hampshire  (the  separate 
existence  of  which  last  had  scarcely  been  defined). 
The  direct  object  of  this  decision  of  the  committee  was 
to  provide  the  bastard  son  of  Charles,  Monmouth,  with 
a  kingdom  of  his  own;  no  one  knew  anything  about 
the  resources  or  possibilities  of  the  domain,  and,  omne 
irjnotum  pro  magnifier),  it  was  surmised  that  it  would 
yield  abundant  revenues.  But  Massachusetts  did  not 
want  the  Duke  for  a  neighbor;  and  while  Charles  was 
considering  terms  of  purchase,  she  bought  up  the 
Gorges  claim  for  some  twelve  hundred  pounds.  The 
Maine  of  that  epoch  was  not,  of  course,  the  same  as 
that  of  to-day;  the  French  claimed  down  to  the  Kenne- 
bec,  and  the  Duke  of  York,  not  content  with  New  York, 
asserted  his  ownership  from  the  Kennebec  to  the  Penob- 
scot;  so  that  for  Massachusetts  was  left  only  what  in- 
tervened between  the  Kennebec  and  the  Piscataqua. 
Being  proprietor  of  this,  she  made  it  a  province  with 
a  governor  and  council,  whom  she  appointed,  and  a 
legislature  derived  from  the  people;  the  province  not 
relishing  its  subordination,  but  being  forced  to  sub- 
mit. Two  years  later,  in  1679,  New  Hampshire  was 
cut  off  from  Massachusetts  and  made  the  first  royal 
province  of  New  England.  The  people  of  the  province 
were  ill-disposed  to  surrender  any  of  the  liberties  which 
they  saw  their  neighbors  in  the  enjoyment  of,  and  dis- 
regarding the  feelings  of  the  King's  appointee,  its 
representatives  declared  that  only  laws  made  by  the 
Assembly  and  approved  by  the  people  should  be  valid. 
Robert  Mason,  who  had  a  patent  to  part  of  the  region, 
finding  himself  opposed  by  the  colonists,  got  permis- 
sion from  England  to  appoint  an  adventurer,  Edward 
Cranfield,  Governor;  Cranfield  went  forth  with  hopes 
of  much  plunder;  but  thev  would  nof  admit  his  legiti- 

203 


HISTOKY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

macy,  and  he  took  the  unprecedented  step  of  dissolv- 
ing the  Assembly ;  the  farmers  revolted,  and  their  ring- 
leader, Gove,  was  condemned  for  treason  and  spent 
four  years  in  the  Tower  of  London.  It  was  another 
attempt  to  convince  the  spirit  of  liberty  by  "the  worst 
argument  in  the  world" ;  but  it  was  ridiculous  as  well 
as  bad  in  Gove's  case;  he  was  but  a  hard-fisted,  un- 
educated countryman,  whose  belief  that  the  patch  of 
land  he  had  cleared  and  planted  among  the  New  Eng- 
land mountains  was  his  and  not  another's  was  not  to 
be  dissipated  by  dungeons.  The  disputed  land  titles 
got  into  the  law  courts,  where  judges  and  juries  were 
fixed ;  but  no  matter  which  way  the  decisions  went,  the 
people  kept  their  own.  Cranfield  sent  an  alarmist 
report  of  affairs  to  London,  declaring  that  "factions" 
would  bring  about  a  separation  of  the  colony  unless 
a  frigate  wrere  sent  to  Boston  to  enforce  loyalty.  Noth- 
ing was  done.  Cranfield  tried  to  raise  money  through 
the  Assembly  by  a  tale  about  an  invasion,  which  existed 
nowhere  save  in  his  own  imagination;  the  Assembly 
refused  to  be  stampeded.  The  clergy  were  against 
him,  and  he  attempted  to  overcome  them  by  restrictive 
orders ;  but  they  defied  him ;  he  imprisoned  one  of  them, 
Moody,  and  succeeded  in  disturbing  church  service ; 
but  the  people  would  rather  not  go  to  meeting  than 
obey  Cranfield.  His  last  effort  was  to  try  to  levy 
taxes  under  pretense  of  an  Indian  war;  but  the  peo- 
ple thwacked  the  tax  collectors  with  staves,  and  the 
women  threatened  them  with  hot  water.  A  call  for 
troops  to  quell  the  disturbances  was  utterly  disre- 
garded. How  was  a  governor  to  govern  people  who 
refused  to  be  governed? 

Cranfield  gave  it  up.  He  had  been  struggling  three 
years  and  had  accomplished  nothing.  He  wrote  home 
that  he  "should  esteem  it  the  greatest  happiness  to  be 
allowed  to  remove  from  these  unreasonable  people"; 
and  this  happiness  was  accorded  to  him;  it  was  the 
only  happiness  which  his  appointment  had  afforded. 
New  Hampshire  was  in  bad  odor  with  the  English 
Government;  but  the  farmers  could  endure  that  with 
equanimity.  They  had  demonstrated  that  the  granite 

204 


QUAKER,  YANKEE,  AND  KING 

of  their  mountains  had  somehow  got  into  their  own 
composition ;  and  they  were  let  alone  for  the  present, 
the  rather  since  Massachusetts  was  enough  to  occupy 
the  King's  Council  at  that  time. 

The  fight  between  Massachusetts  and  Charles  began 
with  the  latter's  accession  in  1660,  and  continued  till 
his  death,  when  it  was  continued  by  James  II.  The 
charter  of  the  colony  was  adjudged  to  be  forfeited 
in  1684,  twenty-four  years  after  the  struggle  opened. 
While  it  was  at  its  height  the  Indian  war  broke  out 
to  which  the  name  of  the  Pokanoket  chief,  King  Philip, 
has  been  attached.  Thus  both  the  diplomacy  and  the 
arms  of  the  colony  were  tested  to  the  utmost  at  one 
and  the  same  time;  the  American  soldiers  were  vic- 
torious, though  at  a  serious  cost  of  life  and  treasure; 
the  diplomatists  were  defeated ;  but  Massachusetts  had 
learned  her  strength  in  both  directions,  and  suffered 
less  in  the  end  by  her  defeat  than  by  her  victory.  The 
issue  between  England  and  her  colony  had  become 
clearly  defined;  the  people  learned  by  practice  what 
they  already  knew  in  theory — the  hatefulness  of  des- 
potism; and  their  resolve  to  throw  it  off  when  the 
opportunity  should  arrive  was  not  discouraged,  but 
confirmed.  From  the  Indian  war  they  gained  less 
than  a  wise  peace  would  have  given  them,  and  they 
lost  women  and  children  as  well  as  men.  Such  con- 
flicts, once  begun,  must  be  pushed  to  the  extremity; 
but  it  cannot  but  be  wished  that  the  people  of  Massa- 
chusetts might  have  found  a  means  of  living  with  the 
red  men  as  their  brethren  in  Pennsylvania  did,  in 
peace  and  amity.  The  conduct  of  Indians  in  war  can 
never  be  approved  by  the  white  race,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  provocations  which  set  them  on  the  warpath 
always  can  be  traced  to  some  act  of  injustice,  real 
or  fancied,  wanton  or  accidental,  on  our  part.  King 
Philip  was  fighting  for  precisely  the  same  object  that 
was  actuating  the  colonists  in  their  battle  with  King 
Charles.  Doubtless  the  rights  of  a  few  thousand  sav- 
ages are  insignificant  compared  with  the  higher  prin- 
ciples of  human  liberty  for  which  we  contended;  but 
Philip  could  not  be  expected  to  acknowledge  this,  and 

205 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

we  should  extend  to  him  precisely  the  same  sympathy 
that  we  feel  for  ourselves. 

A  great  deal  of  pains  had  been  taken  to  convert  and 
civilize  these  New  England  tribes.  John  Eliot  trans- 
lated the  Bible  for  them ;  and  it  was  he  who  made  the 
first  attempt  to  determine  the  grammar  of  their  speech. 
But  though  many  Indians  professed  the  Christian  faith, 
and  some  evinced  a  certain  aptitude  in  letters,  no  new 
life  was  awakened  in  any  of  them,  and  no  permanent 
good  results  were  attained.  Meanwhile,  the  Pokano- 
kets,  with  Philip  at  their  head,  refused  to  accept  the 
white  man's  God,  or  his  learning;  and  they  watched 
with  anxiety  his  growing  numbers  and  power.  They 
had  sold  mile  after  mile  of  land  to  the  English,  not  re- 
alizing that  the  aggregate  of  these  transactions  was 
literally  taking  the  ground  from  under  their  feet;  but 
the  purchasers  had  the  future  as  well  as  the  present  in 
view,  and  contrived  so  to  distribute  their  holdings  as 
gradually  to  push  the  Indians  into  the  necks  of  land 
whence  the  only  outlet  was  the  sea.  It  was  the  old 
story  of  encroachment,  with  always  a  deed  to  justify 
it,  signed  with  the  mark  of  the  savage,  good  in  law,  but 
to  his  mind  a  device  to  ensnare  him  to  his  hurt.  In 
1674,  Philip  was  compelled  to  appear  before  a  court 
and  be  examined,  whereat  his  indignation  was  aroused, 
and,  either  with  or  without  his  privity,  the  informer 
who  had  procured  his  arrest  was  murdered.  The  mur- 
derers were  apprehended  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged 
by  a  jury,  half  white  and  half  Indian.  The  tribe  re- 
taliated and  war  was  begun. 

Philip,  or  Metaconet  the  son  of  Massasoit,  may  at 
this  time  have  been  about  forty  years  old ;  he  had  been 
"King"  for  twelve  years.  The  portraits  of  him  show  a 
face  and  head  that  one  can  hardly  accept  as  veracious ; 
an  enormous  forehead  impending  over  a  small  face, 
with  an  almost  delicate  mouth.  But  he  was  obviously 
a  man  of  ability,  and  his  courage  was  hardened  by  des- 
peration. His  aim  was  to  unite  all  the  tribes  in  an  ef- 
fort to  exterminate  the  entire  English  population, 
though  this  has  been  estimated  to  number  in  New  Eng- 
land, at  that  time,  more  than  fifty  thousand  persons. 

206 


QUAKER,    YANKEE,    AND    KING 

The  odds  were  all  upon  the  colonists'  side;  but  they 
had  not  yet  learned  the  Indian  method  of  warfare,  and 
the  woods,  hills  and  swamps,  and  the  unprotected  state 
of  many  of  the  settlements,  gave  the  Indians  oppor- 
tunities to  prolong  the  struggle  which  they  amply  im- 
proved. Had  they  been  united,  and  adequately  armed, 
the  issue  might  have  been  different. 

Captain  Benjamin  Church,  a  hardy  pioneer  of  six 
and  thirty,  who  had  watched  the  ways  of  the  Indians, 
and  learned  their  strategy,  soon  became  prominent  in  the 
war,  and  ended  as  its  most  conspicuous  and  triumphant 
figure.  At  first  the  colonists  were  successful,  and 
Philip  was  driven  off;  but  this  did  but  enable  him  to 
spread  the  outbseak  among  other  tribes.  From  July 
of  1675  till  August  of  the  next  year,  the  life  of  no  one 
on  the  borders  was  safe.  The  settlers  went  to  the  meet- 
inghouse armed,  and  turned  out  at  the  first  alarm. 
They  were  killed  at  their  plowing;  they  were  am- 
buscaded and  cut  off,  tortured,  slain,  and  their  dis- 
severed bodies  hung  upon  the  trees.  At  the  brook  there- 
after called  Bloody  Run,  near  Deerfield,  over  seventy 
young  men  were  surprised  and  killed.  Women  and 
children  were  not  spared ;  it  was  hardly  sparing  them 
to  carry  them  into  captiv4ty,  as  was  often  done.  The 
villages  which  were  attacked  were  set  on  fire  after  the 
tomahawking  and  scalping  were  done.  Horrible  strug- 
gles would  take  place  in  the  confined  rooms  of  the  little 
cabins;  blood  and  mangled  corpses  desecrated  the  fa- 
miliar hearths,  and  throughout  sounded  the  wild  yell 
of  the  savages,  and  the  flames  crackled  and  licked 
through  the  crevices  of  the  logs. 

In  December,  Church  commanded,  or  accompanied, 
the  little  army  which  plowed  through  night  and  snow 
to  attack  the  palisaded  fort  and  village,  strongly  situ- 
ated on  an  island  of  high  ground  in  the  midst  of  a 
swamp,  in  the  township  of  New  Kingston.  The  Nar- 
ragaiisetts  were  surprised ;  the  soldiers  burst  their  way 
through  the  palisades,  and  the  red  and  the  white  men 
met  hand  to  hand  in  a  desperate  conflict.  Then  the 
tomahawk  measured  itself  against  the  sword,  and  be- 
fore it  faltered  more  than  two  hundred  of  the  New 

207 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Englanders  had  been  killed  or  wounded,  and  the  vil- 
lage was  on  fire.  The  pools  of  blood  which  the  frost 
had  congealed,  bubbled  in  the  heat  of  the  flames.  None 
could  escape ;  infants,  old  women,  all  must  die.  It  was 
as  ghastly  a  fight  as  was  ever  fought.  The  victors  re- 
mained in  the  charred  shambles  till  evening,  resting 
and  caring  for  their  wounded;  and  then,  as  the  snow 
began  to  fall,  went  back  to  Wickford,  carrying  the 
wounded  with  them.  It  is  said  that  a  thousand  In- 
dian warriors  fell  on  that  day. 

At  Hadfield  had  occurred  the  striking  episode  of 
the  congregation,  surprised  at  their  little  church,  and 
about  to  be  overcome,  being  rescued  by  a  mysterious 
gray  champion,  who  appeared  none  knew  whence,  ral- 
lied them,  and  led  them  to  victory.  It  was  believed  to 
be  Goffe,  one  of  the  men  who  sentenced  Charles  I  to  be 
beheaded,  who  had  escaped  to  New  England  at  the  time 
of  the  Restoration,  and  had  dwelt  in  retirement  there 
till  the  peril  of  his  fellow  exiles  called  him  forth.  The 
war  was  full  of  harrowing  scenes  and  strange  deliver- 
ances. Annie  Brackett,  a  prisoner  in  an  Indian  party, 
crossed  Casco  Bay  in  a  birch-bark  canoe  with  her  hus- 
band and  infant  and  was  rescued  by  a  vessel  which 
happened  to  enter  the  harbor  at  the  critical  moment. 

Church  hunted  the  Indians  with  more  than  their  own 
cunning  and  persistency ;  and  at  last  it  was  he  who  led 
the  party  which  effected  Philip's  death.  The  royal 
Indian  was  hemmed  in  in  a  swamp  and  finally  killed 
by  a  traitor  from  his  own  side.  The  savages  could  fight 
no  more;  they  had  caused  the  death  of  six  hundred 
men,  had  burned  a  dozen  towns,  and  compelled  the  ex- 
penditure of  half  a  million  dollars.  Scattered  alarms 
and  tragedies  still  occurred  in  the  East,  and  along  the 
borders;  but  the  war  was  over.  In  1678  peace  was 
signed.  And  then  Massachusetts  turned  once  more  to 
her  deadlier  enemy,  King  Charles. 


208 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   STUARTS   AND  THE   CHARTER 

THE  cutting  off  of  Charles  Fs  head  was  a  deed 
which  few  persons  in  Massachusetts  would  have 
advocated ;  Cromwell  himself  had  remarked  that 
it  was  a  choice  between  the  King's  head  and  his  own. 
History  has  upon  the  whole  accepted  the  choice  he 
made  as  salutary.  Achilles,  forgetting  his  heel,  deemed 
himself  invulnerable,  and  his  conduct  became  in  con- 
sequence intolerable;  Charles,  convinced  that  his 
anointed  royalty  was  sacred,  was  led  on  to  commit  such 
fantastic  tricks  before  high  heaven  as  made  the  godly 
weep.  Achilles  was  disillusioned  by  the  arrow  of  Paris, 
and  Charles  by  the  ax  of  Cromwell.  Death  is  a  whole- 
some argument  at  times. 

But  though  a  later  age  could  recognize  the  high  ex- 
pediency of  Charles's  taking  off,  it  was  too  bold  and 
novel  to  meet  with  general  approbation  at  the  time, 
even  from  men  who  hated  kingly  rule.  Prejudice  has 
a  longer  root  than  it  itself  believes.  And  the  Puritans 
of  New  England,  having  been  removed  from  the  im- 
mediate pressure  of  the  King's  eccentricities,  were  the 
less  likely  to  exult  over  his  end.  Many  of  them  were 
shocked  at  it;  more  regretted  it;  perhaps  the  major- 
ity accepted  it  with  a  sober  equanimity.  They  were  not 
bloodthirsty,  but  they  were  stern. 

Neither  were  they  demonstrative;  so  that  they  took 
the  Parliament  and  the  Protector  calmly,  if  cordially, 
and  did  not  use  the  opportunity  of  their  predominance 
to  cast  gibes  upon  their  predecessor.  So  that,  when  the 
Restoration  was  an  established  fact,  they  had  little  to 
retract.  They  addressed  Charles  II  gravely,  as  one  who 
by  experience  knew  the  hearts  of  exiles,  and  told  him 
that,  as  true  men,  they  feared  God  and  the  King.  They 

209 


entreated  him  to  consider  their  sacrifices  and  worthy 
purposes,  and  to  confirm  them  in  the  enjoyment  of  their 
liberties.  Of  the  execution,  and  of  the  ensuing  "con- 
fusions," they  prudently  forbore  to  speak.  It  was  bet- 
ter to  say  nothing  'than  either  to  offend  their  con- 
sciences, or  to  utter  what  Charles  would  dislike  to 
hear.  Their  case,  as  they  well  knew,  was  critical  enough 
at  best.  Every  foe  of  New  England  and  of  liberty  would 
not  fail  to  whisper  malice  in  the  King's  ear.  They  sent 
over  an  envoy  to  make  the  best  terms  he  could,  and  in 
particular  to  ask  for  the  suspension  of  the  Navigation 
Acts.  But  the  committee  had  small  faith  in  the  loyalty 
of  the  colony,  and  even  believed,  or  professed  to  do  so, 
that  it  might  invite  the  aid  of  Catholic  and  barbarous 
Spain  against  its  own  blood:  they  judged  of  others' 
profligacy  by  their  own.  The  King,  to  gain  time,  sent 
over  a  polite  message,  which  meant  nothing,  or  rather 
less;  for  the  next  news  was  that  the  Acts  were  to  be 
enforced. 

Massachusetts  thereupon  proceeded  to  define  her 
position.  A  committee  composed  of  her  ablest  men 
caused  a  paper  to  be  published  by  the  general  court 
affirming  their  right  to  do  certain  things  which  Eng- 
land, they  knew,  would  be  indisposed  to  permit.  In 
brief,  they  claimed  religious  and  civil  independence,  the 
latter  in  all  but  name,  and  left  the  King  to  be  a  figure- 
head without  perquisites  or  power.  They  followed  this 
intrepid  statement  by  solemnly  proclaiming  Charles 
in  Boston,  and  threw  a  sop  to  Cerberus  in  the  shape  of 
a  letter  couched  in  conciliating  terms,  feigning  to  be- 
lieve that  their  attitude  would  win  his  approbation. 
Altogether,  it  was  a  thrust  under  the  fifth  rib,  with  a 
bow  and  a  smile  on  the  recover.  Probably  the  thrust 
represented  the  will  of  the  majority ;  the  bow  and  smile 
the  prudence  of  the  timid  sort.  Simon  Bradstreet  and 
John  Norton  were  dispatched  to  London  to  receive  the 
King's  answer.  They  went  in  January  of  1662,  and 
after  waiting  through  the  spring  and  summer,  not  with- 
out courteous  treatment,  returned  in  the  fall  with 
Charles's  reply,  which,  after  confirming  the  charter  and 
pardoning  political  infidelities  under  the  Protectorate, 

210 


THE    STUARTS    AND    THE    CHARTER 

went  on  to  refuse  all  the  special  points  which  the 
colony  had  urged. 

Already  at  this  stage  of  the  contest  it  had  become 
evident  that  the  question  was  less  of  conforming  with 
any  particular  demand  or  command  on  the  King's  part 
than  of  admitting  his  right  to  exercise  his  will  at  all 
in  the  premises.  If  the  colony  conceded  his  sovereignty, 
they  could  not  afterward  draw  the  line  at  which  its 
power  was  to  cease.  And  yet  they  could  not  venture 
to  declare  absolute  independence,  partly  because,  if  it 
came  to  a  struggle  in  arms,  they  could  not  hope  to  pre- 
vail;  and  partly  because  absolute  independence  was  less 
desired  than  autonomy  under  the  English  flag.  Eng- 
land was  as  far  from  granting  autonomy  to  Massa- 
chusetts as  independence,  but  was  willing,  if  possible, 
to  constrain  her  by  fair  means  rather  than  by  foul. 
Meanwhile  the  tongue  of  rumor  fomented  discord.  It 
\v;is  said  in  the  colony  that  England  designed  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Massachusetts; 
whereupon  the  laws  against  toleration  of  "heretics," 
which  had  been  falling  into  disuse,  were  stringently  re- 
vived. In  London  the  story  went  that  the  escaped 
regicides  had  united  the  four  chief  colonies  and  were 
about  to  lead  them  in  arms  to  revolt.  Clarendon,  to 
relieve  anxiety,  sent  a  reassuring  message  to  Boston; 
but  its  good  effect  was  spoiled  by  a  report  that  com- 
missioners were  coming  to  regulate  their  affairs.  The 
patent  of  the  colony  was  placed  in  hiding,  the  trained 
bands  were  drilled,  the  defenses  of  the  harbor  were 
looked  to,  and  a  fast  daywas  named  with  the  double 
purpose  of  asking  the  favor  of  God,  and  of  informing 
the  colony  as  to  what  was  in  the  wind.  Assuredly 
there  must  have  been  stout  souls  in  Boston  in  those 
days.  A  few  thousand  exiles  were  actually  preparing 
to  resist  England ! 

The  warning  had  not  been  groundless.  The  fleet 
which  had  been  fitted  out  to  drive  the  Dutch  Governor, 
Peter  Stuyvesant,  from  Manhattan,  stopped  at  Boston 
on  its  way;  and  we  may  imagine  that  its  entrance 
into  the  harbor  on  that  July  day  was  observed  with 
keen  interest  by  the  great-grandfathers  of  the  men  of 

211 


Bunker  Hill.  It  was  not  exactly  known  what  the  in- 
structions of  the  English  officers  required ;  but  it  was 
surmised  that  they  meant  tyranny.  The  commission 
could  not  have  come  for  nothing.  They  had  no  right 
on  New  England  soil.  The  fleet,  for  the  present,  pro- 
ceeded on  its  way,  and  Massachusetts  voluntarily  con- 
tributed a  force  of  two  hundred  men;  but  they  were 
well  aware  that  the  trouble  was  only  postponed;  and 
depending  on  their  charter,  which  contained  no  provi- 
sion for  a  royal  commission,  they  were  determined  to 
thwart  its  proceedings  to  the  utmost  of  their  power. 
How  far  that  might  be,  they  would  know  when  the  time 
came.  Anything  was  better  than  surrender  to  the  pre- 
rogative. When,  in  reply  to  Willoughby,  a  royalist 
declared  that  prerogative  is  as  necessary  as  the  law, 
Major  William  Hawthorne,  who  was  afterward  to  dis- 
tinguish himself  against  the  Indians,  answered  him: 
"Prerogative  is  not  above  law!"  It  was  not  indeed. 
Accordingly,  while  the  fleet  with  its  commissioners 
was  overawing  the  New  Netherlander,  the  Puritans  of 
Boston  Bay  wrote  and  put  forth  a  document  which 
well  deserves  reproduction,  both  for  the  terse  dignity 
of  the  style,  which  often  recalls  the  compositions  of 
Lord  Verulam,  and  still  more  for  the  courageous,  cour- 
teous, and  yet  almost  aggressive  logic  with  which  the 
life  principles  of  the  Massachusetts  colonists  are  laid 
down.  It  is  a  remarkable  State  paper,  and  so  vividly 
sincere  that,  as  one  reads,  one  can  see  the  traditional 
Puritan  standing  out  from  the  words — the  steeple- 
crowned  hat,  the  severe  brow,  the  steady  eyes,  the 
pointed  beard,  the  dark  cloak  and  sad-hued  garments, 
The  paper  is  also  singular  in  that  it  remonstrates 
against  a  principle  without  waiting  for  the  provoca- 
tion of  overt  deeds.  This  excited  the  astonishment 
of  Clarendon  and  others  in  England;  but  their  per- 
plexity only  showed  that  the  men  they  criticized  saw 
farther  and  straighter  than  they  did.  It  was  for  prin- 
ciples, and  against  them,  that  the  Puritans  always 
fought,  since  principles  are  the  parents  of  all  acts  and 
control  them.  The  royal  commission  was,  potentially, 
the  sum  of  all  the  wrongs  from  which  New  England 

212 


THE    STUARTS    AND    THE    CHARTEK 

suffered  during  the  next  hundred  years,  and  though  it 
had  as  yet  done  nothing  it  implied  everything. 

Whose  hand  it  was  that  penned*  the  document  we 
know  not;  it  was  probably  the  expression  of  the  com- 
bined views  of  such  men  as  Mather,  Norton,  Hawthorne, 
Endicott,  and  Bellingham;  it  may  have  been  revised 
by  Davenport,  at  that  time  nearly  threescore  and  ten 
years  of  age,  the  type  of  the  Calvinist  minister  of  the 
period,  austere,  inflexible,  high-minded,  faithful.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  it  certainly  voiced  the  feeling  of  the 
people,  as  the  sequel  demonstrated.  It  is  dated  .Octo- 
ber 25,  1664,  and  is  addressed  to  the  King:  - 

"DREAD  SOVEREIGN — The  first  undertakers  of  this 
Plantation  did  obtain  a  Patent,  wherein  is  granted 
full  and  absolute  power  of  governing  all  the  people 
of  this  place,  by  men  chosen  from  among  themselves, 
and  according  to  such  laws  as  they  should  see  meet 
to  establish.  A  royal  donation,  under  the  Great  Seal, 
is  the  greatest  security  that  may  be  had  in  human 
affairs.  Under  the  encouragement  and  security  of  the 
Royal  Charter  this  People  did,  at  their  own  charges, 
transport  themselves,  their  wives  and  families,  over  the 
ocean,  purchase  the  land  of  the  Natives,  and  plant  this 
Colony,  with  great  labor,  hazards,  cost,  and  difficulties; 
for  a  long  time  wrestling  with  the  wants  of  a  Wilder- 
ness and  the  burdens  of  a  new  Plantation ;  having  now 
also  above  thirty  years  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  Gov- 
ernment within  themselves,  as  their  undoubted  right 
in  the  sight  of  God  and  Man.  To  be  governed  by  rulers 
of  our  own  choosing  and  laws  of  our  own,  is  the  funda- 
mental privilege  of  our  Patent. 

"A  Commission  under  the  Great  Seal,  wherein  four 
persons  (one  of  them  our  professed  Enemy)  are  im- 
powered  to  receive  and  determine  all  complaints  and 
appeals  according  to  their  discretion,  subjects  us  to 
the  arbitrary  power  of  Strangers,  and  will  end  in  the 
subversion  of  us  all. 

"If  these  things  go  on,  your  Subjects  will  either  be 
forced  to  seek  new  dwellings,  or  sink  under  intolerable 
burdens.  The  vigor  of  all  new  Endeavours  will  be  en- 

213 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

feebled ;  the  King  himself  will  be  a  loser  of  the  wonted 
benefit  by  customs,  exported  and  imported  from  hence 
to  England,  and  this  hopeful  Plantation  will  in  the 
issue  be  ruined.  « 

"If  the  aim  should  be  to  gratify  some  particular  Gen- 
tlemen by  Livings  and  Revenues  here,  that  will  also 
fail,  for  the  poverty  of  the  People.  If  all  the  charges 
of  the  whole  Government  by  the  year  were  put  together, 
and  then  doubled  or  trebled,  it  would  not  be  counted 
for  one  of  these  Gentlemen  a  considerable  Accommo- 
dation. To  a  coalition  in  this  course  the  People  will 
never  come;  and  it  will  be  hard  to  find  another  people 
that  will  stand  under  any  considerable  burden  in  this 
Country,  seeing  it  is  not  a  country  where  men  can  sub- 
sist without  hard  labor  and  great  frugality. 

"God  knows  our  greatest  Ambition  is  to  live  a  quiet 
Life,  in  a  corner  of  the  World.  We  came  not  into  this 
Wilderness  to  seek  great  things  to  ourselves;  and  if 
any  come  after  us  to  seek  them  here,  they  will  be  dis- 
appointed. We  keep  ourselves  within  our  Line;  a. just 
dependence  upon,  and  subjection  to,  your  Majesty,  ac- 
cording to  our  Charter,  it  is  far  from  our  Hearts  to 
disacknowledge.  We  would  gladly  do  anything  in  our 
power  to  purchase  the  continuance  of  your  favorable 
Aspect.  But  it  is  a  great  Unhappiness  to  have  no  testi- 
mony of  our  loyalty  offered  but  this,  to  yield  up  our 
Liberties,  which  are  far  dearer  to  us  than  our  Lives, 
and  which  we  have  willingly  ventured  our  Lives  and 
passed  through  many  Deaths,  to  obtain. 

"It  was  Job's  excellency,  when  he  sat  as  King  among 
his  People,  that  he  was  a  Father  to  the  Poor.  A  poor 
People,  destitute  of  outward  Favor,  Wealth,  and  Power, 
now  cry  unto  their  lord  the  King.  May  your  Majesty 
regard  their  Cause,  and  maintain  their  Right;  it  will 
stand  among  the  marks  of  lasting  Honor  to  after 
Generations." 

Throughout  these  sentences  sounds  the  masculine 
earnestness  of  men  who  see  that  for  which  they  have 
striven  valiantly  and  holily  in  danger  of  being  treach- 
erously ravished  from  them,  and  who  are  resolute  to 

214 


THE    STUARTS    AND    THE    CHARTER 

withstand  the  ravisher  to  the  last.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  documents  of  this  tone  and  caliber  amazed  and 
alarmed  the  council  in  London,  and  made  them  ask 
one  another  what  manner  of  men  these  might  be.  It 
would  have  been  well  for  England  had  they  given  more 
attentive  ear  to  their  misgivings ;  but  their  hearts,  like 
Pharaoh's,  were  hardened,  and  they  would  not  let  the 
people  go — until  the  time  was  ripe,  and  the  people  went 
and  carried  the  spoils  with  them. 

The  secret  purpose  of  the  commission  was  to  pave 
the  way  for  the  gradual  subjection  of  the  colony,  and 
to  begin  by  inducing  them  to  let  the  Governor  become 
a  royal  nominee,  and  to  put  the  militia  under  the 
King's  orders.  Of  the  four  commissioners,  Nicolls  re- 
mained in  New  York,  as  we  have  seen ;  the  three  others 
landed  in  Boston  early  in  1665.  Their  first  order  was 
that  every  male  inhabitant  of  Boston  should  assemble 
and  listen  to  the  reading  of  the  message  from  King 
Charles.  These  three  gentlemen — Maverick,  Carr,  and 
Cartwright — were  courtiers  and  men  of  fashion  and 
blood,  and  were  accustomed  to  regard  the  King's  wish 
as  law,  no  matter  what  might  be  on  the  other  side ;  but 
it  was  now  just  thirty  years  since  the  Puritans  left 
England ;  they  had  endured  much  during  that  time  and 
had  tasted  how  sweet  liberty  was;  and  .half  of  them 
Were  young  Americans,  born  on  the  soil,  who  knew 
what  kings  were  by  report  only.  Young  and  old,  speak- 
ing through  the  Assembly,  which  was  in  complete  accord 
with  them,  informed  the  commissioners  that  they  would 
not  comply  with  their  demand.  What  were  the  com- 
missioners, that  they  should  venture  to  call  a  public 
meeting  in  the  town  of  a  free  people?  The  free  people 
went  about  their  affairs  and  left  the  three  gentlemen 
from  the  Court  to  stare  in  one  another's  scandalized 
faces. 

They  were  the  more  scandalized,  because  their  recep- 
tion in  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  had  been  differ- 
ent. But  different,  also,  had  been  the  errand  on  which 
they  went  there.  Those  two  colonies  were  the  King's 
pets,  and  were  to  have  liberty  and  all  else  they  wanted ; 
Connecticut  they  had  protected  from  the  rapacity  of 

215 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Lord  Hamilton,  and  Ehode  Island  had  never  been  other 
than  loving  and  loyal  to  the  King.  They  had,  to  be 
sure,  been  politely  bowed  out  by  little  Plymouth,  the 
yeomen  Independents,  who  still  preferred,  if  his  Maj- 
esty pleased,  to  conduct  their  own  household  affairs  in 
their  own  way.  But  to  be  positively  and  explicitly 
rebuffed  to  their  faces,  yet  glowing  with  the  sunshine 
of  the  royal  favor,  was  a  new  experience;  and  Cart- 
wright,  when  he  caught  his  breath,  exclaimed :  "He  that 
will  not  attend  to  the  request  is  a  traitor!" 

The  Massachusetts  Assembly  declined  to  accept  the 
characterization.  Since  the  King's  own  patent  ex- 
pressly relieved  them  from  his  jurisdiction,  it  was 
impossible  that  their  refusal  to  meet  three  of  his  gen- 
tlemen in  waiting  could  rightly  be  construed  as  trea- 
son. The  commissioners  finally  wanted  to  know,  yes 
or  no,  whether  the  colonists  meant  to  question  the 
validity  of  the  royal  commission?  But  the  Assembly 
would  not  thus  be  dislodged  from  the  coign  of  van- 
tage-; they  stuck  to  their  patent  and  pointed  out  that 
nofriing  was  therein  said  about  a  commission.  So  far 
as  they  were  concerned,  the  commission,  as  a  commis- 
sion, could  have  no  existence.  They  recognized  nothing 
but  three  somewhat  arrogant  persons  in  huge  wigs,  long 
embroidered  waistcoats  under  their  velvet  coats,  and 
plumes  waving  from  their  hats.  They  presented  a  glit- 
tering and  haughty  aspect,  to  be  sure,  but  they  had  no 
rights  in  Boston. 

At  length,  on  the  twenty-third  of  May,  matters  came 
to  a  crisis.  The  commissioners  had  given  out  that  on 
that  day  they  were  going  to  hold  a  court  to  try  a  case 
in  which  the  colony  was  to  defend  an  action  against  a 
plaintiff.  This,  of  course,  would  serve  to  indicate  that 
the  commissioners  had  power — whether  the  Assembly 
conceded  it  or  not — to  control  the  internal  economy  of 
the  settlement.  Betimes  in  this  morning — the  rather 
that  it  was  a  very  pleasant  one — the  trees  on  the  Com- 
mon being  dressed  in  their  first  green  leaves  since  last 
year,  while  a  pleasant  westerly  breeze  sent  the  white 
clouds  drifting  seaward  over  the  blue  sky — a  great 
crowd  began  to  make  its  way  toward  the  courthouse, 

216 


whose  portals  frowned  upon  the  narrow  street,  as  if 
the  stern  spirit  of  justice  that  presided  within  had  cast 
a  shadow  beneath  them.  The  doors  were  closed,  and 
the  massive  lock  which  secured  them  gleamed  in  the 
single  ray  of  spring  sunshine  that  slanted  along  the 
facade  of  the  edifice. 

It  was  a  somber  looking  throng,  as  was  ever  the 
case  in  Puritan  Boston,  where  the  hats,  cloaks,  and 
doublets  of  the  people  were  made  of  dark,  coarse  ma- 
terials, not  designed  to  flatter  the  lust  of  the  eye.  The 
visages  suited  the  garments,  wearing  a  sedate  or  severe 
expression,  whether  the  cast  of  the  features  above  the 
broad,  white  collars  were  broad  and  ruddy,  or  pale  and 
hollow  cheeked.  There  was  a  touch  of  the  fanatic  in 
many  of  these  countenances,  as  of  men  to  whom  God 
was  a  living  presence  in  all  their  affairs  and  thoughts, 
who  feared  His  displeasure  more  than  the  King's,  who 
believed  that  they  were  His  chosen  ones,  and  who 
knew  that  His  arm  was  mighty  to  defend.  They  were 
of  kin  to  the  men  who  stood  so  stubbornly  and  smote 
so  sore  at  Marston  Moor  and  Naseby,  and  afterward 
had  not  feared  to  drag  the  father  of  the  present 
Charles  to  the  block.  Fiber  more  unbending  than  theirs 
was  never  wrought  into  the  substance  of  our  human 
nature ;  and  oppression  seemed  but  to  harden  it. 

They  conversed  one  with  another  in  subdued  tones, 
among  which  sounded  occasionally  the  lighter  accents 
of  women's  voices;  but  they  were  not  a  voluble  race, 
and  the  forms  of  their  speech  still  followed  in  great 
measure  the  semiscriptural  idioms  which  had  been  so 
prevalent  among  Cromwell's  soldiers  years  before. 
They  were  undemonstrative;  but  this  very  immobility 
conveyed  an  impression  of  power  in  reserve  which  was 
more  effective  than  noisy  vehemence. 

At  length,  from  the  extremity  of  the  street,  was  heard 
the  tramp  of  horses'  hoofs,  and  the  commissioners, 
bravely  attired,  with  cavalier  boots,  and  swords  dan- 
gling at  their  sides,  were  seen  riding  forward,  followed 
by  a  little  knot  of  officers.  The  crowd  parted  before 
them  as  they  came,  not  sullenly,  perhaps,  but  certainly 
with  no  alacrity  or  suppleness  of  deference.  There  was 

217 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

no  love  lost  on  either  side;  but  Cartwright,  who  wore 
the  most  arrogant  front  of  the  three,  really  feared  the 
Puritans  more  than  either  of  his  colleagues ;  and  when, 
seven  years  afterward,  he  was  called  before  his  Maj- 
esty's council  to  tell  what  manner  of  men  they  were 
his  account  of  them  was  so  formidable  that  the  council 
gave  up  the  consideration  of  the  menacing  message 
they  had  been  about  to  send,  and  instead  agreed  upon 
a  letter  of  amnesty,  as  likely  to  succeed  better  with  a 
people  of  so  "peevish  and  touchy"  a  humor. 

The  cavalcade  drew  up  before  the  door,  and  the 
officials,  dismounting,  ascended  the  steps.  Finding  it 
locked,  Cartwright  lifted  the  hilt  of  his  sword  and 
dealt  a  blow  upon  the  massive  panel. 

"Who  shuts  the  door  against  his  Majesty's  commis- 
sioners?" cried  he  angrily.  "Where  is  the  rascal  with 
the  keys,  I  say !" 

"I  marvel  what  his  Majesty's  commissioners  should 
seek  in  the  house  of  Justice,"  said  a  voice  in  the  crowd ; 
"since  it  is  known  that,  when  they  go  in  by  one  door, 
she  must  needs  go  out  by  the  other." 

At  this  sally,  the  crowd  smiled  grimly,  and  the  com- 
missioners frowned  and  bit  their  lips.  Just  then  there 
was  a  movement  in  the  throng,  and  a  tall,  dignified 
man  with  a  white  beard  and  an  aspect  of  grave  author- 
ity was  seen  pressing  his  way  toward  the  courthouse 
door. 

"Here  is  the  worshipful  Governor  Belliugham  him- 
self," said  one  man  to  his  neighbor.  "Now  shall  we  see 
the  upshot  of  this  matter." 

"And  God  save  Massachusetts!"  added  the  other, 
devoutly. 

The  chief  magistrate  of  the  colony  advanced  into  the 
little  open  space  at  the  foot  of  the  steps,  and  saluted 
the  commissioners  with  formal  courtesy. 

"I  am  sorry  ye  should  be  disappointed,  sirs,"  said  he; 
"but  I  must  tell  you  that  it  is  the  decision  of  the  wor- 
shipful council  that  ye  do  not  pass  these  doors,  or  order 
any  business  of  the  court  in  this  commonwealth.  Pro- 
vision is  made  by  our  laws  for  the  proper  conduct  of 
all  matters  of  justice  within  our  borders,  and  it  is  not 

218 


THE    STUARTS   AND    THE    CHARTER 

permitted  that  any  stranger  should   interfere  there- 
with." 

"Truly,  Mr.  Bellingham,"  said  Maverick,  resting  one 
hand  on  his  sword,  and  settling  his  plumed  hat  on  his 
wig  with  the  other,  "you  take  a  high  tone ;  but  the  King 
is  the  King,  here  as  in  England,  and  we  bear  his  com- 
mission. Massachusetts  can  frame  no  laws  to  override 
his  pleasure;  and  so  we  mean  to  teach  you.  I  call  upon 
all  persons  here  present,  under  penalty  of  indictment 
for  treason,  to  aid  us,  his  Majesty's  commissioners,  to 
open  this  court,  or  to  break  it  open."  His  voice  rang 
out  angrily  over  the  crowd,  but  no  one  stirred  in 
answer. 

"You  forget  yourself,  sir,"  said  the  Governor  com- 
posedly. "We  here  are  loyal  to  the  King,  and  too  much 
his  friends  to  believe  that  he  would  wrong  himself  by 
controverting  the  charter  which  bears  the  broad  seal 
affixed  by  his  own  royal  father.  Your  claim  doth  abuse 
him  more  than  our  refusal.  But  since  you  will  not  hear 
comfortable  words,  I  must  summon  one^who  will  speak 
more  bluntly." 

He  turned,  and  made  a  signal  with  his  hand.  "Let 
the  herald  stand  forth,"  said  he;  and  at  the  word 
a  broad-shouldered,  deep-chested  personage,  with  a 
trumpet  in  one  hand  and  a  pike  in  the  other,  stepped 
into  the  circle  and  stood  in  the  military  attitude  of 
attention. 

"Hast  thou  the  proclamation  there  in  thy  doublet, 
Simon?"  demanded  his  worship. 

"Aye,  verily,  that  have  I,"  answered  Simon,  in  a 
voice  like  a  foghorn,  "and  in  my  head  and  my  heart, 
too !" 

"Send  it  forth,  then,  and  God's  blessing  go  with  it !" 
rejoined  the  chief  magistrate  forcibly,  but  with  some- 
thing like  a  smile  stirring  under  his  beard. 

Upon  this  Simon  the  herald  filled  his  vast  lungs  with 
a  mighty  volume  of  New  England  air,  set  the  long 
brazen  trumpet  to  his  lips,  and  blew  such  a  blast  that 
the  led  horses  of  the  commissioners  started  and  threw 
up  their  heads,  and  the  windows  of  the  courthouse 
shook  with  the  strident  vibration.  Then,  taking  the 

219 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

paper  on  which  the  proclamation  was  written,  and 
holding  it  up  before  him,  he  proceeded  to  bellow  forth 
its  contents  in  such  stentorian  wise  that  the  commis- 
sioners might  have  heard  it,  had  they  been  on  Boston 
wharf  preparing  to  embark  for  England,  instead  of  be- 
ing within  three  or  four  paces.  That  proclamation  in- 
deed, was  heard  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  New 
England,  and  even  across  the  Atlantic  in  the  gilded 
chamber  of  the  King  of  Britain.  "These  fellows,"  mut- 
tered his  Majesty,  with  a  vexed  air,  "have  the  hardi- 
hood to  affirm  that  we  have  no  jurisdiction  over  them. 
What  shall  be  done,  Clarendon  ?"  "I  have  ever  thought 
well  of  them,"  the  chancellor  said,  rubbing  his  brow; 
"they  are  a  sturdy  race,  and  it  were  not  well  to  wan- 
tonly provoke  them ;  yet  it  is  amazing  that  they  should 
show  themselves  so  forward,  without  so  much  as  charg- 
ing the  commissioners  with  the  least  matter  of  crimes 
or  exorbitances."  Clarendon,  indeed,  was  too  lenient  to 
suit  the  royal  party,  and  this  was  one  of  the  causes 
leading  up  to  his  impeachment  a  year  or  two  later. 

But  the  herald  was  not  troubled,  nor  was  his  voice 
subdued,  by  thoughts  of  either  royalty  or  royal  com- 
missioners ;  though,  as  a  matter  of  form,  he  began  with 
"In  the  name  of  King  Charles,"  he  coupled  with  it  "by 
authority  of  the  Charter" ;  and  went  on  to  declare  that 
the  general  court  of  Massachusetts,  in  observance  of 
their  duty  to  God,  to  the  King,  and  to  their  constitu- 
ents, could  not  suffer  anyone  to  abet  his  Majesty's  hon- 
orable commissioners  in  their  designs.  There  was  no 
mistaking  the  defiance,  and  neither  the  people  nor  the 
commissioners  affected  to  do  so.  The  latter  petulantly 
declared  that  "since  you  will  misconceive  our  endeav- 
ors, we  shall  not  lose  more  of  our  labors  upon  you"; 
and  they  departed  to  Maine,  where  they  met  with  a  less 
mortifying  reception.  The  people  were  much  pleased, 
and  made  sport  of  the  King's  gentlemen,  and  at  their 
public  meetings  they  were  addressed  in  the  same  "sedi- 
tious" vein  by  magistrates  and  ministers.  "The  com- 
mission is  but  a  trial  of  our  courage :  the  Lord  will  be 
with  His  people  while  they  are  with  Him,"  said  old 
Mr.  Davenport.  Endicott,  on  the  edge  of  the  grave,  was 

220 


THE    STUARTS    AND    THE    CHARTER 

istanch  as  ever  for  the  popular  liberties.  Besides,  "There 
hath  been  one  revolution  against  the  King  of  England," 
it  was  remarked ;  "perchance  there  will  be  another  ere 
long ;  and  this  new  war  with  the  Netherlands  may  bring 
more  changes  than  some  think  for."  On  the  other  hand, 
resistance  was  stimulated  by  tales  of  what  the  gold- 
laced  freebooters  of  the  court  would  do,  if  they  were  let 
loose  upon  New  England.  Diplomacy,  however,  was 
combined  with  the  bolder  counsels;  there  was  hope  in 
delays,  and  correspondence  was  carried  on  with  Eng- 
land to  that  end.  Charles's  expressed  displeasure  with 
their  conduct  was  met  with  such  replies  as  "A  just 
dependence  upon  and  allegiance  unto  your  Majesty, 
according  to  the  charter,  we  have,  and  do  profess  and 
practice,  and  have  by  our  oaths  of  allegiance  to  your 
Majesty  confirmed;  but  to  be  placed  upon  the  sandy 
foundations  of  a  blind  obedience  unto  that  arbitrary, 
absolute,  and  unlimited  power  which  these  gentlemen 
would  impose  upon  us — who  in  their  actings  have  car- 
ried it  not  as  indifferent  persons  toward  us — this,  as 
it  is  contrary  to  your  Majesty's  gracious  expressions 
and  the  liberties  of  Englishmen,  so  we  can  see  no  rea- 
son to  submit  thereto." 

The  commissioners  were  recalled;  but  Charles  com- 
manded Bellingham,  Hawthorne,  and  a  few  others  to 
appear  before  him  in  London  and  answer  for  the  con- 
duct of  the  colony.  The  general  court  met  for  prayer 
and  debate ;  Bradstreet  thought  they  ought  to  comply ; 
but  Willoughby  and  others  said,  No.  A  decision  was 
finally  handed  down  declining  to  obey  the  King's  man- 
date. "We  have  already  furnished  our  views  in  writ- 
ing," the  court  held,  "so  that  the  ablest  persons  among 
us  could  not  declare  our  case  more  fully." 

Under  other  circumstances  this  fresh  defiance  might 
have  borne  prompt  and  serious  consequences ;  but  Louis 
XIV  conveniently  selected  the  moment  to  declare  war 
on  England;  and  Boston  commended  herself  to  the 
home  Government  by  arming  privateers  to  prey  upon 
the  Canadian  commerce,  and  by  a  timely  gift  of  a  cargo 
of  masts  for  the  English  navy.  Charles  became  so 
much  interested  in  the  ladies  of  his  court  that  he  had 

221 


HISTORY   OP   THE    UNITED    STATES 

less  leisure  for  the  affairs  of  empire.  Yet  he  still  kept 
New  England  in  mind;  he  believed  Massachusetts  to 
be  rich  and  powerful,  and  from  time  to  time  revolved 
schemes  for  her  reduction;  and  finally,  when  the  colo- 
nists were  exhausted  by  the  Indian  war,  the  Privy 
Council  came  to  the  conclusion  that,  if  they  were  not 
to  lose  their  hold  upon  the  colony  altogether,  "this 
was  the  conjuncture  to  do  something  effectual  for  the 
better  regulation  of  that  Government."  They  selected 
as  their  agent  the  best  hated  man  who  ever  set  foot 
on  Massachusetts  soil — Edward  Randolph.  His  mis- 
sion was  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  revocation  of  its 
charter,  and  to  undo  all  the  works  of  liberty  and  happi- 
ness which  the  labor  and  heroism  of  near  fifty  years 
had  achieved.  He  was  also  intrusted  by  Robert  Mason 
with  the  management  of  his  New  Hampshire  claims. 
The  second  round  in  the  battle  between  King  and  peo- 
ple had  begun. 

Randolph  was  a  remorseless,  subtle,  superserviceable 
villain,  who  lied  to  the  King  and  robbed  the  colonists, 
and  was  active  and  indefatigable  in  every  form  of  ras- 
cality. During  nine  years  he  went  to  and  fro  between 
London  and  Massachusetts,  weaving  a  web  of  mischief 
that  grew  constantly  stronger  and  more  restrictive, 
until  at  length  the  iniquitous  object  was  achieved.  His 
first  visit  to  Boston  was  in  1676;  he  stayed  but  a  few 
weeks  and  accomplished  nothing,  but  his  stories  about 
the  wealth  and  population  of  the  colonies  stimulated 
the  greed  of  his  employers.  Envoys  were  ordered  to 
come  to  London,  and  this  time  they  were  sent,  but  with 
powers  so  limited  as  to  prevent  any  further  result  than 
the  cession  of  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts  over 
Maine  and  New  Hampshire — which,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  bought  back  the  next  year.  The  enforcement  of 
the  Navigation  Acts  was  for  the  moment  postponed. 
The  colonists  would  pay  duties  to  the  King  within  the 
plantation  if  he  would  let  them  import  directly  from 
the  other  countries  of  Europe.  But  Charles  wished  to 
strengthen  his  grasp  of  colonial  power,  although,  if 
possible,  with  the  Assembly's  consent.  In  1678  the 
Crown  lawyers  gave  an  opinion  that  the  colony's  dis- 

222 


THE    STUARTS    AND    THE    CHARTER 

regard  of  the  Navigation  Acts  invalidated  their  char- 
ter. Randolph  was  appointed  customs  collector  in  New 
England,  and  it  was  determined  to  replace  the  laws  of 
Massachusetts  by  such  as  were  not  "repugnant  to  the 
laws  of  England."  And  the  view  was  expressed  that 
the  settlement  should  be  made  a  royal  colony.  Mani- 
festly the  precious  liberties  of  the  Puritans  were  in 
deadly  peril. 

A  synod  of  the  churches  and  a  meeting  of  the  gen- 
eral court  were  held  to  devise  defense.  To  obviate  a 
repeal  of  their  laws,  these  were  in  a  measure  remodeled 
so  as  to  bring  them  nearer  to  what  it  was  supposed 
the  King  would  require.  Almost  anything  would  be 
preferable  to  giving  up  the  right  to  legislate  for  them- 
selves. It  was  first  affirmed  that  English  laws  did  not 
operate  in  America,  and  that  the  Navigation  Acts  were 
despotic  because  there  was  no  colonial  representation 
in  the  English  Parliament.  And  then,  to  prove  once 
more  how  far  above  all  else  they  prized  principle,  they 
passed  a  Navigation  Act  of  their  own,  which  met  all 
the  King's  stipulations.  They  would  submit  to  the  drain 
on  their  resources  and  the  hampering  of  their  enter- 
prise, but  only  if  they  themselves  might  inflict  them. 
Meanwhile  they  cultivated  to  the  utmost  the  policy  of 
delay.  Randolph  came  over  with  his  patent  as  col- 
lector in  1679,  but  though  the  patent  was  acknowledged, 
he  was  able  to  make  no  arrangements  for  conducting 
the  business.  Orders  were  sent  for  the  dispatch  of 
agents  to  London  with  unlimited  powers;  but  Massa- 
chusetts would  not  do  it.  Parliament  would  not  abet 
the  King  in  his  despotic  plans  beyond  a  certain  point ; 
but  he  was  at  length  able  to  dissolve  it  and  follow  what 
counsel  he  pleased.  His  first  act  was  to  renew  the 
demand  for  plenipotentiary  envoys,  or  else  he  would 
immediately  take  steps  legally  to/ evict  and  avoid  their 
charter. 

Two  agents,  Dudley  and  Richards,  were  finally  ap- 
pointed to  go  to  the  King  and  make  the  best  terms 
possible.  If  he  were  willing  to  compound  on  a  pecuniary 
basis,  which  should  spare  the  charter,  let  it  be  done, 
provided  the  colony  had  the  means  for  it;  but,  what- 

223 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

ever  happened,  the  charter  privileges  of  the  common- 
wealth were  not  to  be  surrendered.  The  agents  had 
not,  therefore,  unlimited  powers ;  and  when  Charles  dis- 
covered this  he  directed  them  to  obtain  such  powers, 
or  a  judicial  process  would  be  adopted.  This  alterna- 
tive was  presented  to  Massachusetts  in  the  winter  of 
1682,  and  the  question  whether  or  not  to  yield  was 
made  the  subject  of  general  prayer,  as  well  as  of  dis- 
cussion. There  seemed  no  possible  hope  in  resistance. 
Might  it  not  then  be  wiser  to  yield?  They  might  thus 
secure  more  lenient  treatment.  If  they  held  out  to  the 
bitter  end  the  penalty  would  surely  be  heavier.  The 
question  ultimately  came  up  before  the  general  court 
for  decision. 

It  is  probable  that  no  other  representative  body  in 
the  world  would  have  adopted  the  course  taken  by  that 
of  Massachusetts.  Certainly  since  old  Eoman  times 
we  might  seek  in  vain  for  a  verdict  which  so  disre- 
garded expediency — everything  in  the  shape  of  what 
would  now  be  termed  "practical  politics" — and  based 
itself  firmly  and  unequivocally  on  the  sternest  grounds 
of  conscience  and  right.  It  was  passed  after  thorough 
debate,  and  with  clear  prevision  of  what  the  result 
must  be;  but  the  magistrates  had  determined  that  to 
suffer  murder  was  better  than  to  commit  suicide;  and 
this  is  the  manner  in  which  they  set  forth  their  belief : 

"Ought  the  Government  of  Massachusetts  to  submit 
to  the  pleasure  of  the  court  as  to  alteration  of  their 
charter?  Submission  would  be  an  offense  against  the 
majesty  of  heaven;  the  religion  of  the  people  of  New 
England  and  the  court's  pleasure  cannot  consist  to- 
gether. By  submission  Massachusetts  will  gain  noth- 
ing. The  court  design  an  essential  alteration,  destruc- 
tive to  the  vitals  of  the  charter.  The  corporations  in 
England  that  have  made  an  entire  resignation  have  no 
advantage  over  those  that  have  stood  a  suit  in  law; 
but  if  we  maintain  a  suit,  though  we  should  be  con- 
demned, we  may  bring  the  matter  to  chancery  or  to 
Parliament,  and  in  time  recover  all  again.  We  ought 
not  to  act  contrary  to  that  way  in  which  God  hath 

224 


I       y    "  .' 


THE    STUARTS    AND    THE    CHARTER 

owned  our  worthy  predecessors,  who  in  1638,  when 
there  was  a  quo  warranto  against  the  charter,  durst 
not  submit.  In  1G64  they  did  not  submit  to  the  com- 
missioners. We,  their  successors,  should  walk  in  their 
steps,  and  so  trust  in  the  God  of  our  fathers  that  we 
shall  see  His  salvation.  Submission  would  gratify  our 
adversaries  and  grieve  our  friends.  Our  enemies  know 
it  will  sound  ill  in  the  world  for  them  to  take  away 
the  liberties  of  a  poor  people  of  God  in  the  wilderness. 
A  resignation  will  bring  slavery  upon  us  sooner  than 
otherwise  it  would  be;  and  it  will  grieve  our  friends 
in  other  colonies,  whose  eyes  are  now  upon  New  Eng- 
land, expecting  that  the  people  there  will  not,  through 
fear,  give  a  pernicious  example  unto  others. 

"Blind  obedience  to  the  pleasure  of  the  court  cannot 
be  without  great  sin  and  incurring  the  high  displeasure 
of  the  King  of  kings.  Submission  would  be  contrary 
unto  that  which  hath  been  the  unanimous  advice  of  the 
ministers,  given  after  a  solemn  day  of  prayer.  The 
ministers  of  God  in  New  England  have  more  of  the 
spirit  of  John  the  Baptist  in  them  than  now,  when  a 
storm  hath  overtaken  them,  to  be  reeds  shaken  with  the 
wind.  The  priests  were  to  be  the  first  that  set  their 
foot  in  the  waters  and  there  to  stand  till  all  danger 
be  past.  Of  all  men  they  should  be  an  example  to  the 
Lord's  people  of  faith,  courage,  and  constancy.  Un- 
questionably, if  the  blessed  Cotton,  Hooker,  Daven- 
port, Mather,  Shepherd,  Mitchell  were  now  living,  they 
would,  as  is  evident  from  their  printed  books,  say :  Do 
not  sin  in  giving  away  the  inheritance  of  your  fathers. 

"Nor  ought  we  to  submit  without  the  consent  of  the 
body  of  the  people.  But  the  freemen  and  church  mem- 
bers throughout  New  England  will  never  consent  here- 
unto. Therefore  the  Government  may  not  do  it. 

"The  civil  liberties  of  New  England  are  part  of  the 
inheritance  of  their  fathers ;  and  shall  we  give  that  in- 
heritance away?  Is  it  objected  that  we  shall  be  exposed 
to  great  sufferings?  Better  suffer  than  sin.  It  is  bet- 
ter to  trust  the  God  of  our  fathers  than  to  put  confi- 
dence in  princes.  If  we  suffer  because  we  dare  not 
comply  with  the  wills  of  men  against  the  will  of  God, 

U.S.— 8    VOL.  I  225 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

we  suffer  in  a  good  cause,  and  shall  be  accounted  mar- 
tyrs in  the  next  generation  and  at  the  Great  Day." 

The  promulgation  of  this  paper  was  the  prelude  to 
much  calamity  in  New  England  for  many  years;  but 
how  well  it  has  justified  itself!  Such  words  are  a  liv- 
ing power,  surviving  the  lapse  of  many  generations  and 
flaming  up  fresh  and  vigorous  above  the  decay  of  cen- 
turies. The  patriotism  which  they  express  is  of  more 
avail  than  the  victories  of  armies  and  of  navies,  for 
these  may  be  won  in  an  ill  cause;  but  the  dauntless 
utterances  of  men  who  would  rather  perish  than  fail 
to  keep  faith  with  God  and  with  their  forefathers  is  a 
victory  for  mankind  and  is  everlasting.  How  poor  and 
vain  in  comparison  with  this  stern  and  sincere  elo- 
quence seem  the  supple  time  service  and  euphemism  of 
vulgar  politicians  of  whose  cunning  and  fruitless  spider 
webs  the  latter  years  have  been  so  prolific.  It  is  worth 
while  to  do  right  from  high  motives  and  to  care  for  no 
gain  that  is  not  gained  worthily.  The  men  of  Massa- 
chusetts who  lived  a  hundred  years  before  Jefferson 
were  Americans  of  a  type  as  lofty  as  any  that  have 
lived  since;  the  work  that  was  given  them  to  do  was 
so  done  that  time  can  take  away  nothing  from  it  nor 
add  anything.  The  soul  of  liberty  is  in  it.  It  is  easy 
to  "believe  in"  our  country  now  when  it  extends  from 
ocean  to  ocean  and  is  the  home  of  one  hundred  mil- 
lion human  beings  who  lead  the  world  in  intelligence, 
wealth,  and  the  sources  of  power.  But  our  country 
two  hundred  and  more  years  ago  was  a  strip  of  sea- 
coast  with  Indians  on  one  side  and  tyrants  on  the 
other,  inhabited  by  a  handful  of  exiles  who  owned 
little  but  their  faith  in  God  and  their  love  for  the 
freedom  of  man.  No  lesser  men  than  they  could  have 
believed  in  their  country  then;  and  they  vindicated 
their  belief  by  resisting  to  the  last  the  mighty  and 
despotic  power  of  England. 

On  November  30, 1683,  the  decision  was  made  known : 
"The  deputies  consent  not,  but  adhere  to  their  former 
bills."  A  year  afterward  the  English  court,  obstinate 
in  the  face  of  all  remonstrances,  adjudged  the  poyal 

226 


THE    STUARTS    AND    THE    CHARTER 

charter  of  Massachusetts  to  be  forfeited.  It  had  been 
in  existence  all  but  half  a  century.  It  was  no  more; 
but  it  had  done  its  work.  It  had  made  Massachusetts. 
The  people  were  there — the  men,  the  women,  and  the 
children — who  would  hand  on  the  tradition  of  faith 
and  honor  through  the  hundred  years  of  darkness  and 
tribulation  till  the  evil  spell  was  broken  by  the  guns 
of  Bunker  Hill.  Royal  governors  might  come  and  go, 
but  the  people  were  growing  day  by  day,  and  though 
governors  and  governments  are  things  of  an  hour,  the 
people  are  immortal,  and  the  time  of  their  emancipa- 
tion will  come.  By  means  of  the  charter  the  seed  of 
liberty  was  sown  in  favorable  soil;  it  must  lie  hid 
a  while;  but  it  would  gather  in  obscurity  and  seeming 
death  the  elements  of  new  and  more  ample  life,  and 
the  genius  of  endless  expansion.  Great  men  and  na- 
tions come  to  their  strength  through  great  trials,  so 
that  they  may  remember  and  not  lightly  surrender 
what  was  so  hardly  won. 

The  King's  Privy  Council,  now  that  Massachusetts 
lay  naked  and  helpless  before  them,  debated  whether 
she  should  be  ruled  by  English  laws  or  whether  the 
King  should  appoint  governors  and  councils  over  her, 
who  should  have  license  to  work  their  wills  upon  her 
irresponsibly,  except  in  so  far  as  the  King's  private 
instructions  might  direct  them.  A  minority,  repre- 
sented by  Lord  Halifax,  who  carried  a  wise  head  on 
young  shoulders,  advised  the  former  plan ;  but  the  ma- 
jority preferred  to  flatter  Charles's  manifest  predilec- 
tion, and  said — not  to  seem  embarrassingly  explicit — 
that  in  their  opinion  the  best  way  to  govern  a  colony 
on  the  other  side  of  an  ocean  three  thousand  miles 
broad,  was  to  govern  it — as  the  King  thought  best! 

So  now,  after  so  prolonged  and  annoying  a  delay, 
the  royal  libertine  had  his  Puritan  victim  gagged  and 
bound,  and  could  proceed  to  enjoy  her  at  his  leisure. 
But  it  so  fell  out  that  the  judgment  against  the  char- 
ter was  received  in  Boston  on  July  2,  1685,  whereas 
Charles  II  died  in  London  on  February  6  of  the  same 
year;  so  that  he  did  not  get  his  reward  after  all:  not, 
at  least,  the  kind  of  reward  he  was  looking  for.  But 

227 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

so  far  as  Massachusetts  was  concerned,  it  made  little 
difference,  since  James  II  was  as  much  the  foe  of  lib- 
erty as  was  his  predecessor  and  had  none  of  his  animal 
amiability.  The  last  act  of  the  Massachusetts  Assem- 
bly under  the  old  order  was  the  appointing  of  a  day 
of  fasting  and  prayer,  to  beseech  the  Lord  to  have 
mercy  upon  His  people. 

The  reign  of  James  II  was  a  black  season  for  the 
northern  American  colonies;  we  can  say  no  better  of 
it  than  that  it  did  not  equal  the  bloody  horrors  which 
were  perpetrated  in  Scotland  between  1680  and  1687. 
Massacres  did  not  take  place  in  Massachusetts;  but 
otherwise  tyranny  did  its  perfect  work.  The  most 
conspicuous  and  infamous  figures  of  the  time  are  Sir 
Edmund  Andros  and  Edward  Eandolph. 

Andros,  born  in  1637,  was  thirty-seven  years  of  age 
when  he  came  to  the  colonies  as  Governor  of  New  York 
on  behalf  of  the  Duke  of  York.  He  was  a  lawyer  and 
a  man  of  energy  and  ability;  and  his  career  was  on  the 
whole  successful,  from  the  point  of  view  of  his  employ- 
ers and  himself;  his  tenure  of  office  in  New  York  was 
eight  years;  he  was  Governor  of  New  England  from 
1686  to  1689,  when  he  was  seized  and  thrown  in  jail 
by  the  people  on  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  in 
England  ;  and  he  afterward  governed  Virginia  for  seven 
years  (1692-1698),  which  finished  his  colonial  career. 
But  from  1704  to  1706  the  island  of  Jersey,  in  the 
English  Channel,  was  intrusted  to  his  rule;  and  he 
died  in  London,  where  he  was  born,  in  1714,  being  then 
seventy-seven  years  old,  not  one  day  of  which  long  life, 
so  far  as  records  inform  us,  was  marked  by  any  act  or 
thought  on  his  part  which  was  reconcilable  with  gen- 
erosity, humanity,  or  honor.  He  was  a  tyrant  and  the 
instrument  of  tyranny,  hating  human  freedom  for  its 
own  sake,  greedy  to  handle  unrighteous  spoils,  mock- 
ing the  sufferings  he  wrought,  triumphing  in  the  in- 
justice he  perpetrated;  foul  in  his  private  life  as  he 
was  wicked  in  his  public  career.  A  far  more  intelli- 
gent man  than  Berkeley  of  Virginia,  he  can,  therefore, 
plead  less  excuse  than  he  for  the  evil  and  misery  of 
which  he  was  the  immediate  cause.  But  no  earthly 

228 


THE    STUARTS    AND    THE    CHARTER 

punishment  overtook  him ;  for  kings  find  such  men  use- 
ful, and  God  gives  power  to  kings  in  this  world,  that 
mankind  may  learn  the  evil  which  is  in  itself,  and  gain 
courage  and  nobility  at  last  to  cast  it  out  and  trample 
it  under  foot. 

James  II-was  that  most  dangerous  kind  of  despot— 
a  stupid,  cold  man ;  even  his  libertinism,  as  it  was  with- 
out shame,  so  was  it  without  passion.  In  his  public 
acts  he  plodded  sluggishly  from  detail  to  detail,  with 
eyes  turned  downward,  never  comprehending  the  larger 
scope  and  relations  of  things.  He  was  incapable  of 
perceiving  the  vileness,  cruelty,  or  folly  of  what  he  did; 
the  almost  incredible  murders  in  Scotland  never  for  a 
moment  disturbed  his  clammy  self-complacency.  Per- 
haps no  baser  or  more  squalid  soul  ever  wore  a  crown ; 
yet  no  doubt  ever  crept  into  his  mind  that  he  was 
God's  chosen  and  anointed.  His  pale  eyes,  staring 
dully  from  his  pale  face,  saw  in  the  royal  prerogative 
the  only  visible  witness  of  God's  will  in  the  domain 
of  England ;  the  atmosphere  of  him  was  corruption  and 
death.  But  from  1685  to  1688  this  man  was  absolute 
master  of  England  and  her  colonies;  and  the  disease 
which  he  bred  in  English  vitals  was  hardly  cured  even 
by  the  sharp  medicine  of  the  Boyne. 

By  the  time  Andres  came  to  New  England  he  had 
learned  his  business.  The  year  after  his  appointment 
to  New  York  he  attempted  to  assert  his  sovereignty  up 
to  the  Connecticut  River ;  but  he  was  opposed  by  Deputy 
Governor  Leet,  a  chip  of  the  old  Roundhead  block, 
who  disowned  the  patent  of  Andros  and  practically 
kicked  him  out  of  the  colony.  Connecticut  paid  for 
her  temerity  when  the  owner  of  Andros  became  king. 
In  the  meanwhile  he  returned  to  New  York,  where  he 
was  not  wanted,  but  was  tolerated;  the  settlers  there 
were  a  comfortable  people,  and  prosperous  in  the 
homely  and  simple  style  natural  to  them:  they  de- 
manded civil  rights  in  good  clear  terms,  and  cannot 
be  said  to  have  been  unduly  oppressed  at  this  time. 
New  York  for  a  while  included  the  Delaware  settle- 
ments, and  Andros  claimed  both  east  and  west  Jersey. 
The  claim  was  contested  by  Carteret  and  by  the 

229 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

Quakers.  When  the  Jersey  commerce  began  to  be 
valuable,  Andros  demanded  tribute  from  the  ships  and 
shook  the  Duke's  patent  in  the  people's  faces.  They 
replied,  rather  feebly,  with  talk  of  Magna  Charta.  In 
1682  the  western  part  came  by  purchase  into  Quaker 
ownership,  and  three  years  afterward  the  eastern  part 
followed  by  patent  from  the  Duke.  To  trace  the  vicis- 
situdes of  this  region  to  their  end,  it  was  surrendered 
to  England  in  1702  and  united  to  New  York;  and  in 
1738,  in  compliance  with  the  desire  of  the  inhabitants, 
it  became  its  own  master.  The  settlers  were  of  com- 
posite stock:  Quakers,  Puritans,  and  others;  and  at 
the  time  of  the  Scotch  persecutions  large  numbers  of 
fugitive  Covenanters  established  themselves  on  the  east- 
ern slopes.  The  principle  on  which  laud  was  distrib- 
uted, in  comparatively  small  parcels,  made  the  Jerseys 
a  favorite  colony  for  honest  and  industrious  persons  of 
small  means;  and,  upon  the  whole,  life  went  well  and 
pleasantly  with  them. 

At  the  time  of  the  return  of  Andros  to  England,  in 
1682,  the  Assembly  decreed  free  trade,  and  Dongan,  the 
new  Roman  Catholic  Governor,  permitted  them  to  en- 
act a  liberal  charter.  In  the  midst  of  the  happiness 
consequent  upon  this,  the  Duke  became  King  and  lost 
no  time  in  breaking  every  contract  that  he  had  in  his 
unanointed  state  entered  into.  Taxes  arbitrarily  levied, 
titles  vacated  in  order  to  obtain  renewal  fees,  and  all 
the  familiar  machinery  of  official  robbery  were  put  in 
operation.  But  Dongan,  a  kindly  Kildare  Irishman — 
he  was  afterward  Earl  of  Limerick — would  not  make 
oppression  bitter;  and  the  New  Yorkers  were  not  so 
punctilious  about  abstract  principles  as  were  the  New 
England  men.  Favorable  treaties  were  made  with  the 
Indians,  and  the  despot's  heel  was  not  shod  with  iron, 
nor  was  it  stamped  down  too  hard.  The  Dongan  char- 
ter, as  it  was  called,  remained  in  the  colony's  posses- 
sion for  over  forty  years.  The  rule  of  Dongan  himself 
continued  till  1688. 

Andros,  after  an  absence  from  the  colonies  of  five 
years,  during  which  time  a  native  but  unworthy  New 
Englander,  Joseph  Dudley,  had  acted  as  president, 

230 


THE    STUARTS    AND    THE    CHARTER 

came  back  to  his  prey  with  freshened  appetite  in  1686. 
He  was  royal  governor  of  all  New  England.  Ran- 
dolph, an  active  subordinate  under  Dudley,  -had  already 
destroyed  the  freedom  of  the  press.  Andros's  power 
was  practically  absolute ;  he  was  to  sustain  his  author- 
ity by  force,  elect  his  own  creatures  to  office,  make  such 
laws  as  pleased  him,  and  introduce  episcopacy.  He 
forbade  anyone  to  leave  the  colony  without  leave  from 
himself;  he  seized  a  meetinghouse  and  made  it  into  an 
Episcopal  church  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  the  Puri- 
tans, and  the  bell  was  rung  for  high-church  service  in 
spite  of  the  recalcitrant  Needham.  Duties  were  in- 
creased; a  tax  of  a  penny  in  the  pound  and  a  poll  tax 
of  twenty  pence  were  levied;  and  those  who  refused 
payment  were  told  that  they  had  no  privilege  except 
"not  to  be  sold  as  slaves."  Magna  Charta  was  no  pro- 
tection against  the  abolition  of  the  right  of  habeas 
corpus :  "Do  not  think  the  laws  of  England  follow  you 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth!"  Juries  were  packed,  and 
Dudley,  to  avoid  all  mistakes,  told  them  what  verdicts 
to  render.  Randolph  issued  new  grants  for  properties 
and  extorted  grievous  fees,  declaring  all  deeds  under 
the  charter  void,  and  those  from  Indians,  or  "from 
Adam,"  worthless.  West,  the  secretary,  increased  pro- 
bate duties  twenty-fold.  When  Danforth  complained 
that  the  condition  of  the  colonists  was  little  short  of 
slavery,  and  Increase  Mather  added  that  no  man  could 
call  anything  his  own,  they  got  for  answer  that  "it  is 
not  for  his  Majesty's  interest  that  you  should  thrive." 
In  the  history  of  Massachusetts  there  is  no  darker  day 
than  this. 

The  great  New  England  romancer,  writing  of  this 
period  a  hundred  and  seventy  years  later,  draws  a 
vivid  and  memorable  picture  of  the  people  and  their 
oppressors.  "The  roll  of  the  drum,"  he  says,  "had  been 
approaching  through  Cornhill  louder  and  deeper  till, 
with  reverberations  from  house  to  house  and  the  regu- 
lar tramp  of  martial  footsteps,  it  burst  into  the  street. 
A  double  rank  of  soldiers  made  their  appearance,  oc- 
cupying the  whole  breadth  of  the  passage,  with  shoul- 
dered matchlocks  and  matches  burning,  so  as  to  pre- 
231 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

sent  a  row  of  fires  in  the  dusk.  Their  steady  march 
was  like  the  progress  of  a  machine  that  would  roll 
irresistibly  over  everything  in  its  way.  Next,  moving 
slowly,  with  a  confused  clatter  of  hoofs  on  the  pave- 
ment, rode  a  party  of  mounted  gentlemen,  the  central 
figure  being  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  elderly,  but  erect  and 
soldierlike.  Those  around  him  were  his  favorite  coun- 
cilors and  the  bitterest  foes  of  New  England.  At  his 
right  rode  Edward  Eandolph,  our  archenemy,  that 
'blasted  wretch/  as  Mather  calls  him,  who  achieved 
the  downfall  of  our  ancient  government,  and  was  fol- 
lowed with  a  sensible  curse  through  life  and  to  his 
grave.  On  the  other  side  was  Bullivant,  scattering 
jests  and  mockery  as  he  rode  along.  Dudley  came  be- 
hind with  a  downcast  look,  dreading,  as  well  he  might, 
to  meet  the  indignant  gaze  of  the  people  who  beheld 
him,  their  only  countryman  by  birth,  among  the  op- 
pressors of  his  native  land.  The  captain  of  a  frigate 
in  the  harbor  and  two  or  three  civil  officers  under  the 
Crown  were  also  there.  But  the  figure  that  most  at- 
tracted the  public  eye,  and  stirred  up  the  deepest  feel- 
ing, was  the  Episcopal  clergyman  of  King's  Chapel 
riding  haughtily  among  the  magistrates  in  his  priestly 
vestments,  the  fitting  representative  of  prelacy  and 
persecution,  the  union  of  church  and  state,  and  all 
those  abominations  which  had  driven  the  Puritans  to 
the  wilderness.  Another  guard  of  soldiers,  in  double 
rank,  brought  up  the  rear.  The  whole  scene  was  a 
picture  of  the  condition  of  New  England,  and  its  moral 
the  deformity  of  any  government  that  does  not  grow 
out  of  the  nature  of  things  and  the  character  of  the 
people.  On  one  side  the  religious  multitude  with  their 
sad  visages  and  dark  attire,  and  on  the  other  the  group 
of  despotic  rulers  with  the  high  churchman  in  the 
midst,  and  here  and  there  a  crucifix  at  their  bosom, 
all  magnificently  clad,  flushed  with  wine,  proud  of  un- 
just authority  and  scoffing  at  the  universal  groan.  And 
the  mercenary  soldiers,  waiting  but  the  word  to  deluge 
the  street  with  blood,  showed  the  only  means  by  which 
obedience  could  be  secured." 

Education  was  temporarily  paralyzed,  and  the  right 

232 


THE    STUARTS    AND    THE    CHARTER 

of  franchise  was  rendered  nugatory  by  the  order  that 
oaths  must  be  taken  with  the  hand  on  the  Bible — 
a  "popish"  ceremony  which  the  Puritans  would  not 
undergo.  The  town  meetings,  which  were  the  essence 
of  New  Englandism,  were  forbidden  except  for  the  elec- 
tion of  local  officers,  and  ballot  voting  was  stopped. 
"There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  town  in  the  whole  coun- 
try," Andros  declared.  Verily  it  was  "a  time  when 
New  England  groaned  under  the  actual  pressure  of 
heavier  wrongs  than  those  threatened  ones  which 
brought  on  the  Revolution."  Yet  the  spirit  of  the 
people  was  not  crushed;  their  leaders  did  not  desert 
them;  in  private  meetings  they  kept  their  faith  and 
hope  alive;  the  ministers  told  them  that  "God  would 
yet  be  exalted  among  the  heathen";  and  one  at  least 
among  them,  Willard,  significantly  bade  them  take  note 
that  they  "had  not  yet  resisted  unto  blood  warring 
against  sin !" 

Boston  was  Andros's  headquarters,  and  in  1688  was 
made  the  capital  of  the  whole  region  along  the  coast, 
from  the  French  possessions  in  the  north  to  Maryland 
in  the  south.  But  Andros  had  not  yet  received  the 
submission  of  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut.  Walter 
Clarke  was  the  Governor  of  the  former  colony  in  1687, 
when,  in  the  dead  of  winter,  Andros  appeared  there 
and  ordered  the  charter  to  be  given  up.  Roger  Williams 
had  died  three  years  before.  Clarke  tried  to  tem- 
porize and  asked  that  the  surrender  be  postponed 
till  a  fitter  season.  But  Andros  dissolved  the  Govern- 
ment summarily  and  broke  its  seal;  and  it  is  not  on 
record  that  the  Rhode  Islanders  offered  any  visible  re- 
sistance to  the  outrage.  From  Rhode  Island  Andros, 
with  his  retinue  and  soldiers,  proceeded  to  Hartford, 
which  had  lost  its  Winthrop  longer  ago  than  the 
former  its  Williams.  Governor  Dongan  of  New  York 
had  warned  Connecticut  of  what  was  to  come,  and  had 
counseled  them  to  submit.  Three  writs  of  quo  war- 
ranto  were  issued,  one  upon  another,  and  the  colony 
finally  petitioned  the  King  to  be  permitted  to  retain 
its  liberties;  but  in  any  case  to  be  merged  rather  in 
Massachusetts  than  in  New  York.  It  was  on  the  last 

233 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

day  of  October,  1687;  Andros  entered  the  Assembly 
hall,  where  the  Assembly  was  then  in  session,  with 
Governor  Treat  presiding.  The  scene  which  followed 
has  entered  into  the  domain  of  legend;  but  there  is 
nothing  miraculous  in  it;  a  deed  which  depended  for 
its  success  upon  the  secrecy  with  which  it  was  accom- 
plished would  naturally  be  lacking  in  documentary 
confirmation.  Upon  Andros's  entrance,  hungry  for  the 
charter,  Treat  opposed  him  and  entered  upon  a  defense 
of  the  right  of  the  colony  to  retain  the  ancient  and 
honorable  document,  hallowed  as  it  was  by  associa- 
tions which  endeared  it  to  its  possessors,  aside  from 
its  political  value.  Andros,  of  course,  would  not  yield ; 
the  only  thing  that  such  men  ever  yield  to-  is  superior 
force;  but  force  being  on  his  side,  he  entertained  no 
thought  of  departing  from  his  purpose.  The  dispute 
was  maintained  until  so  late  in  the  afternoon  that 
candles  must  be  lighted;  some  were  fixed  in  sconces 
round  the  walls,  and  there  were  others  on  the  table, 
where  also  lay  the  charter  with  its  engrossed  text  and 
its  broad  seal.  The  Assemblymen,  as  the  debate  seemed 
to  approach  its  climax,  left  their  seats  and  crowded 
round  the  table,  where  stood  on  one  side  the  royal 
Governor  in  his  scarlet  coat  laced  with  gold,  his  heavy 
but  sharp-featured  countenance  flushed  with  irritation, 
one  hand  on  the  hilt  of  his  sword,  the  other  stretched 
out  toward  the  coveted  document;  on  the  other,  the 
Governor  chosen  by  the  people,  in  plain  black  with 
a  plain  white  collar  turned  down  over  his  doublet, 
his  eyes  dark  with  emotion,  his  voice  vibrating  hoarsely 
as  he  pleaded  with  the  licensed  highwayman  of  Eng- 
land. Around  is  the  ring  of  strong  visages,  rustic  but 
brainy,  frowning,  agitated,  eager,  angry ;  and  the  flame 
of  the  candles  flickering  in  their  heavily  drawn  breath. 
Suddenly  and  simultaneously,  by  a  preconcerted  sig- 
nal, the  lights  are  out  and  the  black  darkness  has  swal- 
lowed up  the  scene.  In  the  momentary  silence  of  as- 
tonishment Andros  feels  himself  violently  shoved  aside ; 
the  hand  with  which  he  would  draw  his  sword  is  in  an 
iron  grasp;  as  heavy  as  that  which  he  has  laid  upon 
colonial  freedom.  There  is  a  surging  of  unseen  men 

234 


THE    STUARTS    AXD    THE    CHARTER 

about  him,  the  shuffling  of  feet,  vague  outcries;  he 
knows  not  what  is  to  come;  death,  perhaps.  Is  Sir 
Edmund  afraid?  We  have  no  information  as  to  the 
physical  courage  of  the  man  further  than  that  in  1675 
he  had  been  frightened  into  submission  by  the  farmers 
and  fishermen  at  Fort  Saybrook.  But  he  need  not  have 
been  a  coward  to  feel  the  blood  rush  to  his  heart  dur- 
ing those  few  blind  moments.  Men  of  such  lives  as  his 
are  always  ready  to  suspect  assassination. 

But  assassination  is  not  an  American  method  of 
righting  wrong.  Anon  the  steel  had  struck  the  flint, 
and  the  spark  had  caught  the  tinder,  and  one  after 
another  t-he  candles  were  alight  once  more.  All  stared 
at  one  another;  what  had  happened?  Andros,  his  face 
mottled  with  pallor,  was  pulling  himself  together  and 
striving  to  resume  the  arrogant  insolence  of  his  cus- 
tomary bearing.  He  opens  his  mouth  to  speak,  but 
only  a  husky  murmur  replaces  the  harsh  stridency  of 
his  usual  utterance.  "What  devilish  foolery  is  this — " 
But  ere  he  can  get  further  some  bucolic  statesman 
brings  his  massive  palm  down  on  the  table  with  a 
bang  that  makes  the  oaken  plank  crack,  and  thunders 
out:  "The  charter!  Where's  our  charter?" 

Where,  indeed?  That  is  one  of  those  historic  secrets 
which  will  probably  never  be  decided  one  way  or  the 
other.  "There  is  no  contemporary  record  of  this  event." 
No,  but  somehow  or  other  one  hears  of  Yankee  Captain 
Joe  Wadsworth,  with  the  imaginative  audacity  and 
promptness  of  resource  of  his  race,  snatching  the  parch- 
ment from  the  table  in  the  midst  of  the  groping  panic 
and  slipping  out  through  the  crowd ;  he  has  passed  the 
door  and  is  inhaling  with  grateful  lungs  the  fresh  cool- 
ness of  the  cloudy  October  night.  Has  anyone  seen 
him  go?  Did  anyone  know  what  he  did?  None  who 
will  reveal  it.  He  is  astride  his  mare,  and  they  are  off 
toward  the  old  farm,  where  his  boyhood  was  spent  and 
where  stands  the  great  hollow  oak  which,  thirty  years 
before,  Captain  Joe  used  to  canvas  for  woodpeckers' 
nests  and  squirrel  hordes.  Hehad  thoughtin  thoseboyish 
days  what  a  good  hiding  place  the  old  tree  would  make, 
and  the  thought  had  flashed  back  into  his  mind  while 

235 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

he  listened  to  that  fight  for  the  charter  to-day.  It  did 
not  take  him  long  to  lay  his  plot  and  to  agree  with 
his  few  fellow  conspirators.  Sir  Edmund  can  snatch 
the  Government  and  scrawl  finis  at  the  foot  of  the  Con- 
necticut records,  but  that  charter  he  shall  never  have, 
nor  shall  any  man  again  behold  it,  until  years  have 
passed  away  and  Andros  has  vanished  forever  from 
New  England. 

Meanwhile  he  returned  to  Boston,  there  for  a  season 
to  make  "the  wicked  walk  on  every  side  and  the  vilest 
to  be  exalted."  Then  came  that  famous  April  day  of 
1689;  and,  following,  event  after  event,  one  storming 
upon  another's  heels  as  the  people  rose  from  their  long 
bondage  and  hurled  their  oppressors  down.  The  bearer 
of  the  news  that  William  of  Orange  had  landed  in 
England  was  imprisoned,  but  it  was  too  late.  Andros 
ordered  his  soldiers  under  arms;  but  the  commander 
of  the  frigate  had  been  taken  prisoner  by  the  Boston 
ship  carpenters ;  the  sheriff  was  arrested ;  hundreds  of 
determined  men  surrounded  the  regimental  headquar- 
ters; the  major  resisted  in  vain;  the  colors  and  drums 
were  theirs;  a  vast  throng  at  the  town  house  greeted 
the  venerable  Bradstreet;  the  insurrection  was  pro- 
claimed, and  Andros  and  his  wretched  followers,  fly- 
ing to  the  frigate,  were  seized  and  cast  into  prison. 
"Down  with  Andros  and  Randolph !"  was  the  cry,  and 
"The  old  charter  once  more !"  It  was  nearly  a  hundred 
years  before  that  shot  fired  at  Concord  and  heard 
round  the  world. 


236 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  NEW  LEAF,  AND  THE  BLOT  ON  IT 

POPULAR  liberty  is  one  thing;  political  independ- 
ence is  another.     The  latter  cannot  be  securely 
and  lastingly  established  until  the  former  has 
fitted  the  nation  to  use  it  intelligently.     When  the 
component  individuals  haye  thrown  off  the  bondage  of 
superstition  and   of  formulas,   their  next  step   must 
be,  as  an  organization,  to  abrogate  external  subordina- 
tion to  others,  and,  like  a  son  come  of  age,  to  begin  life 
on  a  basis  aud  with  an  aim  of  their  own. 

But  such  movements  are  organic  and  chronologically 
slow;  so  that  we  do  not  comprehend  them  until  his- 
torical perspective  shows  them  to  us  in  their  mass  and 
tendency.  They  are  thus  protected  against  their  ene- 
mies, who,  if  they  knew  the  significance  of  the  helpless 
seed,  would  destroy  it  before  it  could  become  the  in- 
vincible and  abounding  tree.  Great  human  revolutions 
make  themselves  felt  at  first  as  a  trifling  and  unreason- 
able annoyance:  a  crumpling  in  the  rose-leaf  bed  of  the 
orthodox  and  usual.  They  are  brushed  petulantly  aside 
and  the  sleeper  composes  himself  to  rest  once  more. 
But  inasmuch  as  there  was  vital  truth  as  the  predis-^ 
posing  cause  of  the  annoyance,  it  cannot  thus  be  dis-' 
posed  of ;  it  spreads  and  multiplies.  Had  its  opponents 
understood  its  meaning  they  would  have  humored  it 
into  inoffensiveness ;  but  the  means  they  adopt  to  ex- 
tirpate it  .are  the  sure  way  to  develop  it.  Truth  can 
no  more  be  smothered  by  intolerance  than  a  sown 
field  can  be  rendered  unproductive  by  covering  it  with 
manure. 

When  Christ  came  the  common  people  had  no  recog- 
nized existence  except  as  a  common  basis  on  which 
aristocratic  institutions  might  rest.  That  they  could 
have  rights  was  as  little  conceived  as  that  inanimate 

237 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

sticks  and  stones  could  have  them ;  to  enfranchise  them 
— to  surrender  to  them  the  reins  of  government — from 
such  an  idea  the  veriest  madness  would  have  started. 
Philosophy  was  blind  to  it;  religion  was  abhorrent  to 
it ;  the  common  people  themselves  were  as  far  from  en- 
tertaining it  as  cattle  in  the  fields  are  to-day.  Christ's 
sayings — Love  one  another;  Do  as  ye  would  be  done 
by — struck  at  the  root  of  all  arbitrary  power  and  fur- 
nished the  clew  to  all  possible  emancipations ;  but  their 
infinite  meaning  has  even  yet  been  grasped  but  par- 
tially. A  thousand  years  are  but  as  yesterday  in  the 
counsels  of  the  Lord.  The  early  Christians  were  in- 
deed a  democracy;  but  they  were  common  people  to 
begin  with,  and  the  law  of  love  suggested  to  them  no 
thought  of  altering  their  condition  in  that  respect.  The 
only  liberty  they  dreamed  of  claiming  was  liberty  to 
die  for  their  faith ;  and  that  was  accorded  to  them  in 
full  measure.  Indeed  an  apprenticeship,  the  years  of 
which  were  centuries,  must  be  served  before  they  could 
be  qualified  to  realize  even  that  they  could  become  the 
trustees  of  power. 

Their  simple  priesthood,  beginning  by  sheltering  them 
from  physical  violence,  ended  by  subjecting  them  to 
a  yet  more  enslaving  spiritual  tyranny.  Philosophers 
could  frame  imaginative  theories  of  human  liberty,  but 
the  people  could  be  helped  only  from  within  themselves. 
Wiclif,  giving  them  the  Bible  in  a  living  language  and 
intimating  that  force  was  not  necessarily  right,  began 
their  education ;  and  Luther,  in  his  dogma  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith  alone,  forged  a  tremendous  weapon  in 
their  behalf.  Beggars  could  have  faith,  princes  and 
prelates  might  lack  it;  of  what  avail  was  it  to  gain 
the  whole  world  if  the  soul  must  be  lost  at  last?  The 
reasonings  and  discussions  to  which  his  dogma  gave 
rise  called  into  existence  two  world-covering  armies  to 
fight  for  and  against  it.  Peace  has  not  been  declared 
between  them  yet,  but  there  has  long  ceased  to  be  any 
question  as  to  who  shall  have  the  victory. 

When  the  battle  began,  however,  the  other  side  had 
the  stronger  battalions,  and  there  would  have  been  lit- 
tle chance  for  liberty  but  for  the  timely  revelation  of 

238 


THE  NEW  LEAF,  AND  THE  BLOT  ON  IT 

the  western  continent.  And,  inevitably,  it  was  the  peo- 
ple who  went  and  the  aristocrats  who  stayed  behind ; 
because  the  new  idea  favored  the  former  and  menaced 
the  latter.  Inevitably,  too,  it  was  the  man  who  had 
the  future  in  him  that  was  the  exile,  and  the  man  of 
the  past  who  drove  him  forth.  And  whenever  we  find 
a  man  of  the  aristocratic  order  emigrating  to  the  colo- 
nies we  find  in  him  the  same  love  of  liberty  which  ani- 
mates his  plebeian  companion,  graced  by  a  motive  even 
higher  because  opposed  to  his  inherited  interests  and 
advantages.  Thus  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed  became 
by  the  nature  of  things  the  citadel  of  the  purest  and 
soundest  civilization. 

Luther,  Calvin,  and  Jonathan  Edwards  were  in  the 
line  of  succession  one  from  the  other;  each  defined  the 
truth  more  nearly  than  his  predecessor,  but  left  it  still 
in  the  rough.  The  whole  truth  is  never  revealed  at 
one  time,  but  so  much  only  as  may  forge  a  sword  for 
,the  immediate  combat.  Faith  alone  was  a  good  blade 
for  the  first  downright  strokes  of  the  battle;  predesti- 
nation had  a  finer  edge;  and  Edwards's  dialectical 
subtleties  on  the  freedom  of  the  will  sharpen  logic  to 
so  fine  a  point  that  we  begin  to  perceive  that  not  logic 
but  love  is  the  true  weapon  of  the  Christian :  the  mys- 
tery of  God  is  not  revealed  in  syllogisms.  But  each 
fresh  discrimination  was  useful  in  its  place  and  time, 
and  had  to  exist  in  order  to  prepare  the  way  for  its 
successor.  The  Puritans  would  have  been  less  stubborn 
without  their  background  of  spiritual  damnation.  That 
awful  conscience  of  theirs  would  have  faltered  without 
its  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone  to  keep  out  of;  and  if 
it  had  faltered  the  American  nation  would  have  been 
strangled  in  its  cradle. 

America,  then,  having  no  permanent  attractions  as 
a  residence  for  any  of  the  upper  classes  of  European 
society,  became  the  home  of  the  common  people,  in 
whom  alone  the  doctrine  of  liberty  could  find  a  safe 
anchorage,  because  in  them  alone  did  the  need  for  it 
abide.  The  philosophy,  the  religion,  the  tolerance,  the 
civil  forms,  which  are  broad  enough  to  suit  the  com- 
mon people,  must  be  nearly  as  broad  as  truth  itself 

239 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

and,  therefore,  as  unconquerable.  But  the  broader  they 
appear  the  more  must  they  be  offensive  to  the  orthodox 
and  conventional,  who  by  the  instinct  of  self-preserva- 
tion will  be  impelled  to  attack  them.  There  was  never 
a  more  obvious  chain  of  cause  and  effect  than  that 
which  is  revealed  in  the  history  of  the  United  States; 
and  having  shown  the  conditions  which  led  to  the 
planting  in  the  wilderness  of  the  elements  which  con- 
stitute our  present  commonwealth,  we  shall  now  pro- 
ceed to  trace  the  manner  in  which  they  came  to  be 
wrought  into  a  united  whole.  They  were  as  yet  mainly 
unconscious  of  one  another ;  the  opportunity  for  mutual 
knowledge  had  not  yet  been  presented,  nor  had  the 
causes  conducive  to  crystallization  been  introduced. 
Oppression  had  awakened  the  colonists  to  the  value 
of  their  religious  and  civic  principles ;  something  more 
than  oppression  was  requisite  to  mold  them  into  inde- 
pendent and  homogeneous  form.  This  was  afforded 
during  the  next  eighty  years  by  their  increase  in  num- 
bers, wealth,  familiarity  with  their  country,  and  in 
the  facilities  for  intercommunication;  and  also,  coin- 
cidently,  by  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  which  ap- 
prised them  of  their  strength,  trained  them  in  arms, 
created  the  comradeship  which  arises  from  common 
dangers  and  aims,  and  developed  vast  tracts  of  land 
which  had  otherwise  been  unknown.  A  country  which 
has  been  fought  for,  on  whose  soil  blood  has  been  shed, 
becomes  dear  to  its  inhabitants;  and  the  heroism  of 
the  Revolution  gathered  heart  and  perseverance  from 
the  traditions  and  the  graves  of  the  soldiers  of  the 
Intercolonial  wars. 

The  English  Revolution  benefited  the  colonies,  though 
to  a  less  extent  than  might  have  been  expected.  Wil- 
liam of  Orange  was  the  logical  consequence,  by  reac- 
tion, of  James  II.  The  latter  had  so  corrupted  and 
confused  the  kingdom  that  William,  whose  connection 
with  England  arose  from  his  marriage  with  Mary, 
James's  daughter,  was  invited  to  usurp  the  throne  by 
Tories,  Whigs,  and  Presbyterians — each  party  from  a 
motive  of  its  own.  The  people  were  not  appealed  to, 
but  they  acquiesced.  The  Roman  Catholics  were  dis- 

240 


THE  NEW  LEAF,  AND  THE  BLOT  ON  IT 

criminated  against,  and  the  nonconformists  were  not 
requited  for  their  services ;  but,  out  of  many  minor  in- 
justices and  wrongs,  a  condition  better  than  anything 
which  had  preceded  it  was  soon  discernible.  The  prin- 
ciple was  established  that  royal  power  was  not  abso- 
lute nor  self-continuing;  it  could  be  created  only  by 
the  representatives  of  the  people,  who  could  take  it 
away  again  if  its  trustees  were  guilty  of  breach  of  con- 
tract. The  dynastic  theory  was  disallowed ;  kings  were 
to  come  by  election,  not  succession.  The  nobility  were 
recognized  as  the  medium  between  the  king  and  the 
people,  but  not  before  they  had  conceded  to  the  Com- 
mons the  right  to  elect  a  king  for  life;  and  presently 
there  came  into  existence-  a  new  power — that  of  the 
commercial  classes,  the  moneyed  interest,  which,  in  re- 
turn for  loans  to  government,  received  political  con- 
sideration. Ownership  of  land  ceased  to  be  the  sole 
condition  on  which  a  candidate  could  appeal  to  the 
electors ;  and  merchants  were  raised  to  a  position  where 
they  could  control  national  policies.  Merchants  might 
not  be  wiser  or  less  selfish  than  the  aristocracy ;  but  at 
all  events  they  were  of  the  people,  and  the  more  widely 
power  is  diffused  the  less  likely  is  any  class  to  be  op- 
pressed. It  was  no  longer  possible  for  freemen  to  be 
ruled  otherwise  than  by  governments  of  their  own  mak- 
ing and  subject  to  their  approval.  Freedom  of  the 
press,  which  means  liberty  to  criticize  all  state  and 
social  procedure,  was  established,  and  public  opinion, 
instead  of  being  crushed,  was  consulted.  The  aristoc- 
racy could  retain  its  ascendancy  only  by  permitting 
more  weight  to  the  middle  class,  whose  influence  was 
therefore  bound  gradually  to  increase.  Popular  legis- 
latures were  the  final  arbiters;  and  the  advantages 
which  the  English  had  obtained  would  naturally  be 
imparted  to  the  colonies,  which,  in  addition,  were  un- 
hampered by  the  relics  of  decaying  systems  which  still 
impeded  the  old  country. 

William  cared  little  for  England,  nor  were  the  Eng- 
lish in  love  with  him;  but  he  was  the  most  farseeing 
statesman  of  his  day,  and  his  effect  was  liberalizing 
and  beneficial.  He  kept  Louis  XIV  from  working  the 

241 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

mischief  that  he  desired,  and  prevented  the  disturb- 
ance of  political  equilibrium  which  was  threatened  by 
the  proposed  successor  to  the  extinct  Hapsburg  dynasty 
on  the  Spanish  throne.  William  was  outwardly  cold 
and  dry,  but  there  was  fire  within  him  if  you  would 
apply  friction  enough.  He  was  under  no  illusions ;  he 
perfectly  understood  why  he  was  wanted  in  England ; 
and  for  his  part  he  accepted  the  throne  in  order  to  be 
able  to  check  Louis  in  his  designs  upon  the  liberties  of 
Holland.  In  defending  his  countrymen  he  defended  all 
others  in  Europe  whose  freedom  was  endangered. 

But  if  William's  designs  were  large,  they  were  also, 
and  partly  for  that  reason,  unjust  in  particulars.  He 
was  at  war  with  France;  France  held  possessions  in 
America ;  and  it  was  necessary  to  carry  on  war  against 
her  there  as  well  as  in  Europe.  The  colonists,  then, 
should  be  made  to  assist  in  the  operations ;  they  must 
furnish  men,  forts,  and,  to  some  extent  at  least,  sup- 
plies. It  was  easy  to  reach  this  determination,  but 
difficult  to  enforce  it  under  the  circumstances.  The 
various  colonies  lacked  the  homogeneity  which  was 
desirable  to  secure  cooperative  action  from  them ;  some 
of  them  were  royal  provinces,  some  proprietary,  some 
were  in  an  anomalous  state,  or  practically  without 
any  recognizable  form  of  government  whatever.  Each 
had  its  separate  interests  to  regard,  and  could  not  be 
brought  to  perceive  that  what  was  the  concern  of  one 
must  in  the  end  be  the  concern  of  all.  But  the  great- 
est difficulty  was  to  secure  obedience  of  orders  after 
they  had  been  promulgated;  the  colonial  legislatures 
pleaded  all  manner  of  rights  and  privileges  under 
Magna  Charta  and  other  charters;  they  claimed  the 
privileges  of  Englishmen,  and  they  stood  upon  their 
"natural"  rights  as  discoverers  and  inhabitants  of  a 
new  country.  They  were  spread  over  a  vast  extent  of 
territory,  so  that  in  many  cases  a  journey  of  weeks 
would  be  required  through  pathless  forests,  across  un- 
bridged  rivers,  over  difficult  mountains,  by  swamps  and 
morasses — in  order  to  carry  information  of  the  com- 
mands of  the  Government  to  no  more  than  a  score  or 
a  hundred  of  persons.  And  then  these  persons  would 

242 


THE  NEW  LEAF,  AND  THE  BLOT  ON  IT 

look  around  at  the  miles  of  unconquerable  nature 
stretching  out  on  every  side;  and  they  would  reflect 
upon  the  thousands  of  leagues  of  salt  water  that  parted 
them  from  the  King  who  was  the  source  of  these  un- 
welcome orders;  and  finally  they  would  glance  at  the 
travel-stained  and  weary  envoy  with  a  pitying  smile, 
and  offer  him  food  and  drink  and  a  bed — but  not 
obedience.  The  colonists  had  imagination  when  they 
cared  to  exercise  it;  but  not  imagination  of  the  kind 
to  bring  vividly  home  to  them  the  waving  of  a  royal 
scepter  across  the  broad  Atlantic. 

Another  cause  of  embarrassment  to  the  King  was 
the  reluctance  of  Parliament  to  pass  laws  inhibiting 
the  reasonable  liberties  of-' the  colonies.  The  influence 
of  the  Lords  somewhat  preponderated,  because  they 
controlled  many  of  the  elections  to  the  Commons ;  but 
neither  branch  was  disposed  to  increase  the  power  of 
the  King,  and  they  were,  besides,  split  by  internal  fac- 
tions. It  was  not  until  the  mercantile  interest  got  into 
the  saddle  that  Parliament  saw  the  expediency  of  re- 
stricting the  productive  and  commercial  freedom  of  the 
colonies,  and  the  necessity,  in  order  to  secure  these 
ends,  of  diminishing  their  legislative  license.  Mean- 
while William  tried  more  than  one  device  of  his  own. 
First,  by  dint  of  the  prerogative,  he  ordered  that  each 
colony  north  of  Carolina  should  appoint  a  fixed  quota 
of  men  and  money  for  the  defense  of  New  York  against 
the  common  enemy ;  this  order  it  was  found  impossible 
to  carry  out.  Next  he  caused  a  board  of  trade  to  be 
appointed  in  1696  to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  the 
colonies,  and  as  to  what  should  be  done  about  them; 
and  after  a  year  this  board  reported  that  in  their  opin- 
ion what  was  wanted  was  a  captain  general  to  exer- 
cise a  sort  of  military  dictatorship  over  all  the  North 
American  provinces.  But  the  ministry  held  this  plan 
to  be  imprudent,  and  it  fell  through.  At  the  same  time 
William  Penn  worked  out  a  scheme  truly  statesman- 
like, proposing  an  annual  congress  of  two  delegates 
from  each  province  to  devise  ways  and  means,  which 
they  could  more  intelligently  do  than  could  any  coun- 
cil or  board  in  England.  The  plan  was  advocated  by 

243 


HISTOEY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Charles  Davenant,  a  writer  on  political  economy,  who 
observed  that  the  stronger  the  colonies  became,  the 
more  profitable  to  England  would  they  be;  only  des- 
potism could  drive  them  to  rebellion ;  and  innovations 
in  their  charters  would  be  prejudicial  to  the  King's 
power.  But  this  also  was  rejected ;  and  finally  the 
conduct  of  necessary  measures  was  given  to  "royal  in- 
structions," that  is,  to  the  King;  but  to  the  King  sub- 
ject to  the  usual  parliamentary  restraint.  And  none 
of  the  better  class  of  Englishmen  wished  to  tyrannize 
over  their  fellow  Englishmen  across  the  sea. 

Under  this  arrangement  the  appointment  of  judges 
was  taken  from  the  people ;  habeas  corpus  was  refused 
or  permitted  as  a  favor;  censorship  of  the  press  was 
revived;  license  to  preach  except  as  granted  by  a  bishop 
was  denied;  charters  were  withheld  from  dissenters; 
slavery  was  encouraged ;  and  the  colonies  not  as  yet 
under  royal  control  were  told  that  the  common  weal 
demanded  that  they  should  be  placed  in  the  same  con- 
dition of  dependency  as  those  who  were.  But  William 
died  in  1702,  before  this  arrangement  could  be  carried 
out.  Queen  Anne,  however,  listened  to  alarmist  reports 
of  the  unruly  and  disaffected  condition  of  the  colonies, 
and  allowed  a  bill  for  their  "better  regulation''  to  be 
introduced.  It  was  now  that  the  mercantile  interest 
began  to  show  its  power. 

The  old  argument  that  every  nation  may  claim  the 
services  of  its  own  subjects,  wherever  they  are,  was 
revived;  and  that  England  ought  to  be  the  sole  buyer 
and  seller  of  American  trade.  All  the  oppressive  and 
irritating  commercial  regulations  were  put  in  force, 
and  all  colonial  laws  opposing  them  were  abrogated. 
Complaints  under  these  regulations  were  taken  out  of 
the  hands  of  colonial  judges  and  juries,  on  the  plea 
that  they  were  often  the  offenders.  Woolen  manufac- 
tures, as  interfering  with  English  industry,  were  so 
rigorously  forbidden  that  a  sailor  in  an  American  port 
could  not  buy  himself  a  flannel  shirt,  and  the  Vir- 
ginians were  put  to  it  to  clothe  themselves  at  all. 
Naturally  the  people  resisted  so  far  as  they  could, 
and  that  was  not  a  little;  England  could  not  spare 

244 


THE    NEW   LEAF,    AND    THE    BLOT    ON    IT 

a  sufficient  force  to  insure  obedience  to  laws  of  such  a 
kind.  "We  have  a  right  to  the  same  liberties  as  Eng- 
lishmen," was  the  burden  of  all  remonstrances,  and 
it  was  supported  by  councilors  on  the  bench  and  min- 
isters in  the  pulpit.  The  revenues  were  so  small  as 
hardly  to  repay  the  cost  of  management.  It  is  hard 
to  coerce  a  nation  and  get  a  profit  over  expenses ;  and 
the  colonies  were  a  nation — they  numbered  nearly 
three  hundred  thousand  in  Anne's  reign — without  the 
advantage  of  being  coherent ;  they  were  a  baker's  dozen 
of  disputatious  and  recalcitrant  incoherencies.  The 
only  arbitrary  measure  of  taxation  that  was  amiably 
accepted  was  the  post-office  tax,  which  was  seen  to  be 
productive  of  a  useful  service  at  a  reasonable  cost; 
and  an  act  to  secure  suitable  trees  for  masts  for  the 
navy  was  tolerated  because  there  were  so  many  trees. 
The  coinage  system  was  no  system  at  all,  and  led  to 
much  confusion  and  loss;  and  the  severe  laws  against 
piracy,  which  had  grown  to  be  common,  and  in  the 
profits  of  which  persons  high  in  the  community  were 
often  suspected  and  sometimes  •  proved  to  have  been 
participants,  were  less  effective  than  they  certainly 
ought  to  have  been ;  but  they,  and  the  bloody  and  des- 
perate objects  of  them,  added  a  picturesque  page  to 
the  annals  of  the  time. 

Concerning  the  condition  of  the  several  colonies  dur- 
ing the  years  following  the  Revolution  of  1688,  it  may 
be  said  in  general  that  it  was  much  better  in  fact  than 
it  was  in  theory.  There  were  narrow  and  unjust  and 
shortsighted  laws  and  regulations^  and  there  were  men 
of  a  corresponding  stamp  to  execute  them ;  but  the  suc- 
cess such  persons  met  with  was  sporadic,  uncertain, 
and  partial.  The  people  were  grown  too  big  and  too 
well  aware  of  their  bigness  to  be  ground  down  and  kept 
in  subjection,  even  had  the  will  so  to  afflict  them  been 
steady  and  virulent — which  it  cannot  be  said  to  have 
been.  The  people  knew  that,  be  the  law  what  it  might, 
it  could,  on  the  whole,  be  evaded  or  disregarded  unless 
or  until  the  mother  country  undertook  to  enforce  it  by 
landing  an  army  and  regularly  making  war ;  and  Eng- 
land had  too  many  troubles  of  her  own,  and  also  con- 

245 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

tained  too  many  liberal-minded  men,  to  attempt  such 
a  thing  for  the  present.  The  proof  that  the  colonies 
were  not  seriously  or  consistently  oppressed  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  they  all  increased  rapidly  in  popu- 
lation and  wealth,  notwithstanding  their  "troubles"; 
and  it  was  not  until  England  had  settled  down  under 
her  Georges,  and  that  Providence  had  inspired  the  third 
of  that  name  with  the  pig-headedness  that  cost  his 
adopted  subjects  so  dear  that  the  Revolution  became 
a  possibility.  Yet  even  now  there  was  no  lack  of  talk 
of  such  an  eventuality;  the  remark  was  common  that 
in  process  of  time  the  colonies  would  declare  their  in- 
dependence. But  perhaps  it  was  made  rather  with 
intent  to  spur  England  to  adopt  preventative  measures 
in  season  than  from  a  real  conviction  that  the  event 
would  actually  take  place. 

New  York,  at  the  time  of  William's  accession,  had 
been  under  the  control  of  Andros,  who  at  that  epoch 
commanded  a  domain  two  or  three  times  as  large  as 
Britain.  Nicholson  was  his  lieutenant;  and  on  the 
news  of  the  Revolution  Jacob  Leisler,  a  German  who 
had  come  over  in  1660  as  a  soldier  of  the  Dutch  West 
India  Company  and  had  made  a  fortune,  unseated 
Nicholson  and  proclaimed  William  and  Mary.  Sup- 
ported by  the  mass  of  the  Dutch  inhabitants,  but  with- 
out other  warrant,  he  assumed  the  functions  of  royal 
lieutenant  governor  pending  the  arrival  of  the  new 
King's  appointee.  In  the  interests  of  order  it  was  the 
best  thing  to  do.  But  he  made  active  enemies  among 
the  other  elements  of  the  cosmopolitan  population  of 
New  York,  and  they  awaited  an  opportunity  to  be 
avenged  on  him.  This  came  with  the  arrival  of  Henry 
Sloughter  in  1691  with  the  King's  commission.  Slough- 
ter  can  only  be  described  as  a  drunken  profligate.  At 
the  earliest  moment  Leisler  sent  to  know  his  commands 
and  offered  to  surrender  the  fort.  Sloughter  answered 
by  arresting  him  and  Milborne,  his  son-in-law,  on  the 
charge  of  high  treason — an  absurdity;  but  they  were 
arraigned  before  a  partisan  court  and  condemned  to  be 
hanged — they  refusing  to  plead  and  appealing  to  the 
King.  It  is  said  that  Sloughter  did  not  intend  to 

246 


THE  NEW  LEAF,  AND  THE  BLOT  ON  IT 

carry  the  sentence  into  effect;  but  the  local  enemies 
of  Leisler  made  the  Governor  drunk  that  night  and 
secured  his  signature  to  the  decree.  This  was  on  May 
14,  1691;  on  the  15th  the  House  disapproved  the  sen- 
tence, but  on  the  16th  it  was  carried  out,  the  victims 
meeting  their  fate  with  dignity  and  courage.  In  1695 
the  attainder  was  reversed  by  act  of  Parliament;  but 
it  remains  the  most  disgraceful  episode  of  William's 
government  of  the  colonies. 

Meanwhile  Sloughter  was  recalled  and  Fletcher  sent 
out.  He  was  not  a  sodden  imbecile,  but  he  was  ill 
chosen  for  his  office.  He  described  the  New  Yorkers  of 
that  day  as  "divided,  contentious,  and  impoverished," 
arid  immediately  began  a  conflict  with  them.  His  atti- 
tude may  be  judged  from  a  passage  in  his  remarks  to 
the  Assembly  soon  afterward:  "There  never  was  an 
amendment  desired  by  the  council  board  but  what 
was  rejected.  It  is  a  sign  of  a  stubborn  ill  temper.  .  .  . 
While  I  stay  in  this  Government  I  will  take  care  that 
neither  heresy,  schism,  nor  rebellion  be  preached  among 
you,  nor  vice  and  profanity  be  encouraged.  You  seem 
to  take  the  power  into  your  own  hands  and  set  up  for 
everything."  This  last  observation  was1  probably  not 
devoid  of  truth ;  nor  was  a  subsequent  one :  "There  are 
none  of  you  but  what  are  big  with  the  privileges  of 
Englishmen  and  Magna  Charta."  That  well  describes 
the  colonist  of  the  period,  whether  in  New  York  or 
elsewhere.  It  had  been  said  of  New  Yorkers,  however, 
that  they  were  a  conquered  people,  who  had  no  rights 
that  a  king  was  bound  to  respect;  and  the  grain  of 
truth  in  the  saying  may  have  made  the  New  Yorkers 
more  than  commonly  anxious  to  keep  out  the  small  end 
of  the  wedge.  Bellomont's  incumbency  was  mild  and 
chiefly  memorable  by  reason  of  his  having  commissioned 
a  certain  William  Kidd  to  suppress  piracy;  but  Kidd, 
if  tradition  is  to  be  believed — certainly  his  most  unfair 
and  prejudiced  trial  in  London  afforded  no  evidence 
of  it — found  more  pleasure  in  the  observance  than  in 
the  breach,  and  became  the  most  famous  pirate  of  them 
all.  There  is  gold  enough  of  his  getting  buried  along 
the  coasts  to  buy  a  modern  ironclad  fleet,  according  to 

247 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  belief  of  the  credulous.  A  little  later  Steed  Bonnet, 
Kichard  Worley,  and  Edward  Teach,  nicknamed  Black- 
beard,  had  similar  fame  and  fate.  Their  business,  like 
others  of  great  profit,  incurred  great  risks. 

Of  Lord  Cornbury,  the  next  Governor,  Bancroft  re- 
marks with  unwonted  energy  that  "He  joined  the  worst 
form  of  arrogance  to  intellectual  imbecility,"  and  that 
"happily  for  New  York  he  had  every  vice  of  character 
necessary  to  discipline  a  colony  into  self-reliance  and 
resistance."  He  began  by  stealing  $1,500  appropriated 
to  fortify  the  Narrows;  it  was  the  last  money  he  got 
from  the  various  assemblies  that  he  called  and  dis- 
solved, and  the  assemblies  became  steadily  more  inde- 
pendent and  embarrassing.  In  1707  the  Quaker  Speaker 
read  out  in  meeting  a  paper  accusing  him  of  bribe  tak- 
ing. Cornbury  disappears  from  American  history  the 
next  year,  and  completed  his  career  in  England  as  the 
third  Earl  of  Clarendon. 

Under  Lovelace  the  Assembly  refused  supplies  and 
assumed  executive  powers ;  when  Hunter  came  he  found 
a  fertile  and  wealthy  country,  but  nothing  in  it  for 
him:  "Sancho  Panza  was  but  a  type  of  me."  He  was 
a  man  of  humor  and  sagacity,  and  perceived  that  "the 
colonists  are  infants  at  their  mother's  breasts,  but  will 
wean  themselves  when  they  come  of  age."  Before  he 
got  through  with  the  New  Yorkers  he  had  reason  to 
suspect  that  the  weaning  time  had  all  but  arrived. 

New  Jersey  passed  through  many  trivial  vicissitudes, 
changes  of  ownership,  vexed  land  titles,  and  royal  en- 
croachments. For  several  years  the  people  had  no  visi- 
ble government  at  all.  They  did  not  hold  themselves 
so  well  in  hand  as  did  New  York,  and  were  less  auda- 
cious and  aggressive  in  resistance;  but  in  one  way  or 
another  they  fairly  held  their  own,  prospered  and  multi- 
plied. Pennsylvania  enjoyed  from  the  first  more  un- 
disturbed independence  and  self-direction  than  the 
others;  at  one  time  it  seemed  to  be  their  ambition  to 
discover  something  which  Penn  would  not  grant  them 
and  then  to  ask  for  it.  But  the  great  Quaker  was  equal 
to  the  occasion;  no  selfishness,  crankiness,  or  whimsi- 
cality on  their  part  could  wear  out  his  patience  and 

248 


THE  NEW  LEAF,  AND  THE  BLOT  ON  IT 

benevolence.  In  the  intervals  of  his  imprisonments  in 
England  he  labored  for  their  welfare.  The  Queen  con- 
templated making  Pennsylvania  a  royal  province,  but 
Penn,  though  poor,  would  not  let  it  go  except  on  con- 
dition it  might  retain  its  democratic  liberties.  The 
people,  in  short,  kept  everything  in  their  own  hands, 
and  their  difficulties  arose  chiefly  from  their  disputes 
as  to  what  to  do  with  so  much  freedom.  It  was  a  col- 
ony where  everybody  was  equal,  without  an  established 
church,  where  anyone  was  welcome  to  enter  and  dwell, 
which  was  destitute  of  arms  or  defense  or  even  police, 
which  yet  grew  in  all  good  things  more  rapidly  than 
any  of  its  sister  colonies.  The  people  waxed  fat  and 
kicked,  but  they  did  no  evfi  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord, 
whatever  England  may  have  thought  of  them ;  and  after 
the  contentious  little  appendage  of  Delaware  had  finally 
been  cut  off  from  its  big  foster  sister  (though  they 
shared  the  same  governors  until  the  Revolution)  there 
is  little  more  to  be  said  of  either  of  them. 

The  Roman  Catholic  owners  of  Maryland  fared  ill 
after  William  came  into  power;  he  made  the  colony 
a  royal  province  in  1691,  and  for  thirty  years  or  more 
there  were  no  more  Baltimores  in  the  Government. 
Under  Copley,  the  first  royal  Governor,  the  Church  of 
England  was  declared  to  be  established;  but  dissent- 
ers were  afterward  protected;  only  the  Catholics  were 
treated  with  intolerance  in  the  garden  themselves  had 
made.  The  people  soon  settled  down  and  became  con- 
tented, and  slowly  their  numbers  augmented.  But  the 
Baltimores  were  persistent,  and  the  fourth  lord,  in  1715, 
took  advantage  of  his  infancy  to  compass  a  blameless 
reconciliation  with  the  Church  of  England,  thereby  se- 
curing his  installation  in  the  proprietary  rights  of  his 
forefathers,  from  which  the  family  was  not  evicted  until 
the  Revolution  of  the  colonies  in  1775  opened  a  new 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

Virginia  recovered  rapidly  from  Berkeley  and  suf- 
fered little  from  Andros,  who  was  Governor  in  1692, 
but  with  his  fangs  drawn  and  an  experience  to  remem- 
ber. The  people  still  eschewed  towns  and  lived  each 
family  in  its  own  solitude,  hospitable  to  all,  but  con- 

249 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

tent  with  their  own  company.  The  love  of  independ- 
ence grew  alike  in  the  descendants  of  the  cavaliers  and 
in  the  common  people,  and  the  wide  application  of  the 
suffrage  equalized  power,  and  even  enabled  the  lower 
sort  to  keep  the  gentry,  when  the  fancy  took  them,  out 
of  the  places  of  authority  and  trust.  Democracy  was 
in  the  woods  and  streams  and  the  blue  sky,  and  all 
breathed  it  in  and  absorbed  it  into  their  blood  and 
bone.  They  early  petitioned  William  for  home  rule  in 
all  its  purity ;  he  permitted  land  grants  to  be  confirmed, 
but  would  not  let  their  Assembly  supplant  the  English 
Parliament  as  a  governing  power.  He  sought,  unsuc- 
cessfully, to  increase  the  authority  of  the  church;  for 
though  the  bishop  might  license  and  the  governor 
recommend,  the  parish  would  not  present.  It  was  a 
leisurely,  good-natured,  careless,  but  spirited  people, 
indifferent  to  commerce,  content  to  harvest  their  fields 
and  rule  their  slaves,  and  let  the  world  go  by.  A  more 
enviable  existence  than  theirs  it  would  be  hard  to  im- 
agine. All  their  financial  transactions  were  done  in 
tobacco,  even  to  the  clergyman's  stipend  and  the  judge's 
fee.  No  enemy  menaced  them ;  politics  were  rather  an 
amusement  than  a  serious  duty;  yet  in  these  fertile 
regions  were  made  the  brains  and  characters  which 
afterward,  for  so  many  years,  ruled  the  councils  of  the 
United  States  or  led  her  armies  in  war.  They  lay  fal- 
low for  seventy-five  years,  and  then  gave  the  best  of 
accounts  of  themselves.  England  did  not  quite  know 
what  to  make  of  the  Virginians;  to  judge  by  the  re- 
ports of  the  Governors,  they  were  changeable  as  a  pretty 
woman.  But  they  were  simply  capricious  humorists, 
full  of  life  and  intelligence,  who  did  what  they  pleased 
and  did  not  take  themselves  too  seriously.  They  in- 
dulged themselves  with  the  novel  toy,  the  post  office, 
and  founded  William  and  Mary  College  in  1693.  This 
venerable  institution  passed  its  second  centennial  with 
one  hundred  and  sixty  students  on  its  roll;  but  soon 
after  it  "ceased  upon  the  midnight  without  pain."  Any- 
body may  have  a  college  in  these  days. 

The  Carolinas,  no  longer  pestered  by  Grand  Models, 
became  another  rustic  paradise.  Their  suns  were  warm, 

250 


THE  NEW  LEAF,  AND  THE  BLOT  ON  IT 

their  forests  vast,  their  people  delighting  in  a  sort  of 
wild  civilization.  When  James  II  went  down,  the  Caro- 
linians needed  no  caretaker  and  declined  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  martial  law  suggested  by  the  anxious  pro- 
prietors. But  in  1690  they  allowed  Seth  Sothel  to 
occupy  the  gubernatorial  seat,  and  sent  up  a  legisla- 
ture. The  southern  section  was  subjected  to  some 
superficial  annoyance  by  the  proprietors,  who  wished 
to  make  an  income  from  the  country,  but  were  unwill- 
ing to  put  their  hands  in  their  pockets  in  the  first 
place ;  they  insisted  upon  their  authority,  and  the  colo- 
nists did  not  say  them  nay,  but  maintained  freedom 
of  action  in  all  their  concerns  nevertheless.  A  series 
of  proprietary  governors  were  sent  out  to  them — 
Ludwell  first,  then  Smith;  both  failed  and  retired. 
Then  came  Archdale,  the  Quaker,  who  struck  a  popu- 
lar note  in  his  remark  that  dissenters  could  cut  wood 
and  hoe  crops  as  well  as  the  highest  churchmen;  his 
policy  was  to  concede,  to  conciliate,  and  to  harmonize, 
and  he  was  welcome  and  useful.  The  Indians,  and  even 
the  Spaniards,  were  brought  into  friendly  relations. 
Liberty  of  conscience  was  accorded  to  all  but  "papists," 
who  were  certainly  hardly  used  in  these  times.  An 
attempt  to  base  political  power  on  possession  of  land 
was  defeated  in  1702.  The  Church  of  England  was 
accepted  in  1704,  and  though  dissenters  were  tolerated, 
it  remained  the  official  dispenser  of  religion  until  the 
Revolution.  All  these  things  were  on  the  surface;  the 
colony  inside  wras  free,  happy,  and  prosperous ;  it  had 
adopted  rice  culture,  with  a  great  supply  of  negro 
slaves,  and  it  brought  furs  from  far  in  the  interior. 
The  Huguenots  had  been  enfranchised  as  soon  as  it 
was  known  that  England  had  turned  her  back  on 
Catholicism  and  James.  None  of  the  colonies  had 
before  them  a  future  more  peaceful  and  profitable  than 
South  Carolina.  The  slaves  were  her  only  burden ;  but 
at  that  period  they  seemed  not  a  burden,  but  the  assur- 
ance of  her  prosperity. 

North  Carolina  was  as  happy  and  as  peaceful  as  her 
southern  sister,  but  the  conditions  of  life  there  were 
different.  The  proprietors  attempted  to  control  the 

251 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

people,  but  were  worsted  in  almost  every  encounter. 
Laws  were  passed  only  to  be  disregarded.  Here,  as 
elsewhere,  the  Quakers  became  conspicuous  in  incul- 
cating liberal  notions,  and  were  paid  the  compliment 
of  being  hated  and  feared  by  the  emissaries  of  Eng- 
land. What  was  to  be  done  with  a  population  made 
up  of  fugitives  of  all  kinds,  not  from  Europe  only,  but 
from  the  other  colonies,  who  held  all  creeds,  or  none 
at  all ;  who  lived  by  hunting  and  tree  cutting ;  who  were 
as  averse  from  towns  as  Virginia,  and  many  of  whom 
could  not  be  said  to  have  any  fixed  abode  at  all?  If 
restraints  were  proposed,  they  ignored  them;  if  they 
were  pressed,  they  resisted  them,  sometimes  boister- 
ously, but  never  with  bloodshed.  Robert  Daniel,  Deputy 
Governor  in  1704,  tried  to  establish  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land; a  building  was  erected,  but  in  all  the  province 
there  was  but  one  clergyman,  with  an  absentee  congre- 
gation scattered  over  hundreds  of  miles  of  mountain 
and  forest.  In  the  following  year  there  were  two  gov- 
ernors elected  by  opposite  factions,  each  with  his  own 
legislature;  and  in  1711  Edward  Hyde,  going  out  to 
restore  order,  confounded  the  confusion.  He  called  in 
Spotswood  from  Virginia  to  help  him;  but  there  were 
too  many  Quakers;  and  the  old  soldier,  after  landing 
a  party  of  marines  to  indicate  his  disapproval  of  an- 
archy, retired.  Meantime  fresh  emigrants  kept  arriving, 
including  many  Palatinates  from  Germany.  It  was  not 
a  profitable  country  to  its  reputed  owners,  who  in  1714 
received  a  hundred  dollars  apiece  from  it.  But  it  sup- 
ported its  inhabitants  all  the  better;  and  it  was  eight 
years  more  before  they  supplied  themselves  with  a 
courthouse,  and  forty  before  they  felt  the  need  of  a 
printing  press. 

In  New  England,  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island, 
which  had  suffered  comparatively  little  from  the  des- 
potism of  James,  readily  recovered  such  minor  rights 
as  they  had  been  deprived  of.  There  was  a  dispute  be- 
tween Fitz-John  Winthrop  and  Fletcher  as  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  local  militia,  the  former,  with  his  fellow 
colonists,  demanding  that  the  control  be  kept  by  the 
colony;  Winthrop  went  to  England  and  got  confirma- 

252 


THE  NEW  LEAF,  AND  THE  BLOT  ON  IT 

tion  of  his  plea,  and  from  the  people  on  his  return  the 
governorship.  There  were  a  score  and  a  half  of  flour- 
ishing towns  in  Connecticut,  each  with  its  meeting- 
house and  school.  Little  Rhode  Island  recovered  its 
charter,  whether  the  original  or  a  duplicate.  An  act 
was  pending  in  England  to  abrogate  all  colonial  char- 
ters, and  was  backed  by  the  strong  mercantile  influ- 
ence; but  the  French  war  caused  it  to  go  over.  Lord 
Cornbury  and  Joseph  Dudley,  the  Massachusetts-born 
traitor,  did  their  best  to  get  a  royal  governor  for  these 
colonies,  but  they  failed ;  though  Dudley,  at  the  instance 
of  Cotton  Mather,  was  afterward  made  Governor  of 
Massachusetts. 

But  no  son  of  Massachusetts  has  so  well  deserved 
the  condemnation  of  history  as  Cotton  Mather  himself. 
Such  political  sins  as  his  advocacy  of  Dudley  and  his 
opposition  to  the  revival  of  the  old  charter  are  trifling ; 
they  might  have  been  the  result  of  ordinary  blindness 
or  selfishness  merely;  but  his  part  in  the  witchcraft 
delusion  cannot  be  so  accounted  for.  In  his  persecu- 
tion of  the  accused  persons  he  was  actuated  by  a  spirit 
of  inflamed  vanity  and  malignity  truly  diabolic;  and 
if  there  can  be  a  crime  which  Heaven  cannot  forgive, 
assuredly  Cotton  Mather  steeped  himself  in  it.  He 
was  a  singular  being;  yet  he  represented  the  evil  ten- 
dencies of  Puritanism;  they  drained  into  him,  so  to 
say,  until  he  became  their  sensible  incarnation.  In  his 
person,  at  last,  the  Puritans  of  Massachusetts  beheld 
united  every  devilish  trait  to  which  the  tenets  of  their 
belief  could  incline  them;  and  the  hideousness  of  the 
spectacle  so  impressed  them  that,  from  that  time  for- 
ward, any  further  Cotton  Mathers  became  impossible. 
There  is  no  feature  in  Mather's  case  that  can  be  held 
to  palliate  his  conduct.  He  had  the  best  education  of 
the  time,  coming  as  he  did  from  a  line  of  scholars,  and 
out-Heroding  them  in  the  variety  and  curiousness  of 
his  accomplishments,  and  in  the  number  of  his  pub- 
lished "works" — three  hundred  and  eighty-three.  Noth- 
ing that  he  produced  has  any  original  value;  but  his 
erudition  was  enormous.  Of  "Magnalia,"  his  chief  and 
representative  work,  it  has  been  said  that  "it  is  a  het- 

253 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

erogeneous  and  polyglot  compilation  of  information  use- 
ful and  useless,  of  unbridled  pedantry,  of  religious 
adjuration,  biographical  anecdotes,  political  maxims, 
and  theories  of  education.  .  .  .  indeed,  it  contains 
everything  except  order,  accuracy,  sobriety,  proportion, 
development,  and  upshot."  This  man,  born  in  1663, 
was  not  yet  thirty  years  of  age  when  his  campaign 
against  the  witches  began ;  indeed,  he  had  given  a  hint 
of  his  direction  some  years  earlier.  In  his  multifarious 
reading  he  had  become  acquainted  with  all  existing 
traditions  and  speculations  concerning  witchcraft,  and 
his  profession  as  minister  in  the  Calviuist  communion 
predisposed  him  to  investigate  all  accessible  details 
concerning  the  devil.  He  was  passionately  hungry  for 
notoriety  and  conspicuousness :  Tydides  melior  pat  re 
was  the  ambition  he  proposed  to  himself.  A  huge 
memory,  stored  with  the  promiscuous  rubbish  of  li- 
braries, and  with  facts  which  were  transformed  into 
rubbish  by  his  treatment  of  them,  was  combined  in  him 
with  a  diseased  imagination  and  a  personal  vanity  al- 
most surpassing  belief.  His  mental  shallowness  and 
consequent  restlessness  rendered  anything  like  original 
thought  impossible  to  him ;  and  the  faculty  of  intellec- 
tual digestion  was  not  less  beyond  him.  It  is  probable 
that  curiosity  was  the  motive  which  originally  drew 
him  to  the  study  of  witchcraft;  a  vague  credence  of 
such  things  was  common  at  the  time;  and  in  France 
and  England  many  executions  for  the  supposed  crime 
had  taken  place.  Mather  had  no  convictions  on  the 
subject;  he  was  incapable  of  convictions  of  any  kind; 
and  the  revelation  of  his  private  diary  shows  that  at 
the  very  time  he  was  wallowing  in  murders  and  shriek- 
ing out  for  ever  more  victims  he  was  in  secret  doubting 
the  truth  of  all  religion  and  coquetting  with  atheism. 
But  men  of  no  religious  faith  are  prone  to  supersti- 
tions; the  man  who  denies  God  is  the  first  to  seek  for 
guidance  from  the  stars.  Suppose  there  should  be  a 
devil?  was  Mather's  thought.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  that  such  a  man  should  be  fascinated  by  the  notion ; 
and  we  may  perhaps  concede  to  Mather  that,  if  at  any 
time  in  his  career  he  approached  belief  in  anything,  the 

254 


THE  NEW  LEAF,  AND  THE  BLOT  ON  IT 

devil  was  the  subject  of  his  belief.  Had  his  character 
been  genuine  and  vigorous,  such  a  belief  would  have 
led  him  to  plunge  into  witchcraft,  not  as  a  persecutor, 
but  as  a  performer;  he  would  have  aimed  to  be  chief 
at  the  witches'  Sabbath,  and  to  have  rioted  in  the  ter- 
rible powers  with  which  Satan's  children  were  cred- 
ited. But  he  was  far  from  owning  this  bold  and  trench- 
ant fiber ;  though  he  could  not  believe  in  God,  he  dared 
not  defy  Him ;  and  still  he  could  not  refrain  from  dab- 
bling in  the  forbidden  mysteries.  Moreover,  there  was 
an  obscure  and  questionable  faculty  inherent  in  cer- 
tain persons,  unaccountable  on  any  recognized  natural 
grounds,  which  gave  support  to  the  witchcraft  theory. 
We  call  this  faculty  hypnotism  now;  and  physiology 
seeks  to  connect  it  with  the  nervous  affections  of  hys- 
teria and  epilepsy.  At  all  times,  and  in  all  quarters 
of  the  earth,  manifestations  of  it  have  not  been  want- 
ing; and  in  Africa  it  has  for  centuries  existed  as  a 
so-called  religious  cult,  to  which  in  this  country  the 
name  of  Hoodooism  or  Voodooism  has  been  applied. 
It  is  a  savage  form  of  devil  worship,  including  snake 
charming,  and  the  lore  of  fetishes  and  charms;  and 
its  professors  are  able  to  produce  abnormal  effects, 
within  certain  limits,  upon  the  nerves  and  imagina- 
tions of  their  clients  OP  victims.  Among  the  negro 
slaves  in  Massachusetts  in  1692,  and  the  negro-Indian 
mongrels,  there  were  persons  able  to  exercise  this  power. 
They  attracted  the  attention  of  Cotton  Mather. 

Gradually,  we  may  suppose,  the  idea  took  form  in 
his  mind  that  if  he  could  not  be  a  witch  himself,  he 
might  gain  the  notoriety  he  craved,  by  becoming  the 
denouncer  of  witchcraft  in  others.  Ministers  in  that 
day  still  had  great  influence  in  New  England,  and  had 
grasped  at  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  sway,  main- 
taining that  the  former  should  rightly  involve  the  lat- 
ter. What  a  minister  said  had  weight;  what  so  well 
known  a  minister  a*s  Cotton  Mather  said  would  carry 
conviction  to  many.  If  Mather  could  procure^  the  exe- 
cution of  a  witch  or  two,  it  could  not  fail  to  add  greatly 
to  his  spiritual  glory  and  ascendancy.  It  is,  of  course, 
not  to  be  imagined  that  he  had  any  conception  before- 

255 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

hand,  of  the  extent  to  which  the  agitation  he  was  about 
to  begin  would  be  carried.  But  when  evil  is  once  let 
loose  it  multiplies  itself  and  gains  impetus,  and  rages 
like  a  fire.  The  only  thing  for  Mather  to  do  was  to 
keep  abreast  of  the  mischief  which  he  had  created.  If 
he  faltered  or  relented,  he  would  be  himself  destroyed. 
He  was  whirled  along  with  the  foul  storm  by  a  min- 
gling of  terror,  malice,  vanity,  triumph,  and  fascina- 
tion: as  repulsive  and  dastardly  a  figure  as  has  ever 
stained  the  records  of  our  country.  He  was  ready  to 
sacrifice  the  population  of  Massachusetts  rather  than 
confess  the  deeds  for  which  he  was  responsible  were 
based  on  what,  in  his  secret  soul,  he  unquestionably  felt 
was  a  delusion.  For  though  he  may  have  half  believed 
in  witchcraft  while  it  presented  itself  to  him  as  a 
theory,  yet  as  soon  as  he  had  reached  the  stage  of 
actual  examinations  and  court  testimony  he  could  not 
fail  to  perceive  that  the  theory  was  utterly  devoid  of 
reasonable  foundation;  that  convictions  could  not  be 
had  except  by  aid  of  open  perjury,  suppression,  and 
intimidation.  Yet  Cotton  Mather  scrupled  not  to  put 
in  operation  these  and  other  devices,  to  hound  on  the 
magistrates,  to  browbeat  and  sophisticate  the  juries, 
and  to  scream  threats,  warnings,  and  self-glorifications 
from  the  pulpit.  Needs  must  when  the  devil  drives. 
Had  he  paused,  had  he  even  held  his  peace,  that  noose, 
slimy  with  the  death  sweat  of  a  score  of  innocent  vic- 
tims, would  have  settled  greedily  round  his  own  guilty 
neck  and  strangled  his  life.  But  Cotton  Mather  was 
too  nimble,  too  voluble,  too  false,  and  too  cowardly  for 
the  gallows;  he  lived  to  a  good  age  and  died  in  the 
odor  of  sanctity. 

Immediately  after  the  news  of  William's  accession 
was  known  in  New  England,  Mather  opposed  the  res- 
toration of  the  ancient  charter,  because  it  would  have 
interfered  with  the  plans  of  his  personal  political  am- 
bition. He  caused  the  presentation  of  an  address  to 
the  King,  purporting  to  represent  the  desire  of  the  ma- 
jority of  reputable  citizens  of  Boston  placing  them- 
selves at  the  royal  disposal,  without  suggesting  that 
the  charter  rights  be  revived.  Cotton  Mather's  fathei, 

256 


Increase,  was  the  actual  agent  to  England ;  but  it  was 
the  views  of  Cotton  Mather  rather  than  his  own  that 
he  submitted  to  his  Majesty.  The  blatant  hypocrite 
had  dominated  his  father.  The  King  gave  Massachu- 
setts a  new  charter,  which  was  entirely  satisfactory  to 
the  petitioners,  for  it  took  away  the  right  of  the  people 
to  elect  their  own  officers  and  manage  their  own  affairs, 
and  made  the  King  the  fountain  of  power  and  honor. 
It  was  identical  with  all  charters  of  royal  colonies, 
except  that  the  Council  was  elected  jointly  by  the  peo- 
ple and  by  its  own  members.  Sir  William  Phips,  at 
Increase  Mather's  suggestion,  was  made  Governor,  and 
William  Stoughton  Lieutenant  Governor.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  Council  were  "every  man  of  them  a  friend 
to  the  interests  of  the  churches"  and  of  Cotton  Mather. 
He  did  not  conceal  his  delight.  "The  time  for  favor  is 
come,  yea,  the  set  time  is  come !  Instead  of  my  being 
made  a  sacrifice  to  wicked  rulers,  my  father-in-law, 
with  several  related  to  me,  and  several  brethren  of  my 
own  church,  are  among  the  Council.  The  Governor  is 
not  my  enemy,  but  one  whom  I  baptized,  and  one  of 
my  own  flock  and  one  of  my  dearest  friends.  I  ob- 
tained of  the  Lord  that  He  would  use  me  to  be  a  herald 
of  His  kingdom  now  approaching."  Such  was  the  atti- 
tude of  Cotton  Mather  regarding  the  political  outlook. 
Obviously  the  field  was  prepared  for  him  to  achieve  his 
crowning  distinction  as  champion  of  God  against  the 
devil  in  Massachusetts.  In  February  of  the  next  year 
he  found  his  first  opportunity. 

There  was  in  Salem  a  certain  Kev.  Samuel  Parris 
who  had  a  daughter,  a  niece,  and  a  negro-Indian  serv- 
ant called  Tituba.  The  children  were  about  twelve 
years  of  age,  and  much  in  Tituba's  society.  Parris  was 
an  Englishman  born,  and  was  at  this  time  forty-one 
years  old;  he  had  left  Harvard  College  without  a  de- 
gree, had  been  in  trade  in  Boston,  and  had  entered  the 
ministry  and  obtained  the  pastorship  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church  at  Danvers,  then  a  part  of  Salem,  three 
or  four  years  before.  He  had  not  lived  at  peace  with 
his  people ;  he  had  quarreled  bitterly  with  some  of  them, 
and  the  scandal,  had  been  noised  abroad.  He  was  a  man 

U.S.— 9    VOL.  I  257 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

of  brutal  temper  and  without  moral  integrity.  These 
were  the  dramatis  personae  employed  by  Cotton  Mather 
in  the  first  scene  of  his  hideous  farce. 

The  children,  at  the  critical  age  between  childhood 
and  puberty,  were  in  a  condition  to  be  readily  worked 
upon;  it  is  the  age  when  the  nervous  system  is  disor- 
ganized, the  moral  sense  unformed,  and  the  imagina- 
tion ignorant  and  unbridled.  Many  children  are  liars 
and  deceivers,  and  self-deceivers  then,  who  afterward 
develop  into  sanity  and  goodness.  But  these  unhappy 
little  creatures  were  under  the  fascination  of  the  illit- 
erate and  abnormal  mongrel,  and  she  secretly  ravished 
and  fascinated  them  with  her  inexplicable  powers  and 
obscure  devices.  Their  antics  aroused  suspicions  in 
the  coarse  and  perhaps  superstitious  mind  of  Parris; 
he  catechized  them ;  the  woman's  husband  told  what  he 
knew;  and  Parris  beat  her  till  she  consented  to  say 
she  was  a  witch.  Such  phenomena  could  only  be  due 
to  witchcraft.  The  cunning  and  seeming  malignity  of 
the  children  would  tax  belief  wrere  it  not  so  familiar 
a  fact  in  children;  and  notable  also  was  their  histri- 
onic ability.  They  wrere  excited  by  the  sensation  they 
aroused,  and  vain  of  it;  they  were  willing  to  do  what 
they  could  to  prolong  it.  But  they  hardly  needed  to 
invent  anything;  more  than  was  necessary  was  sug- 
gested to  them  by  questions  and  comments.  They  were 
quick  to  take  hints  and  improve  upon  them.  Sarah 
Good,  Martha  Cory,  Rebecca  Nourse,  and  all  the  rest 
must  be  their  victims;  but  God  will  forgive  the  chil- 
dren, for  they  know  not  what  they  do.  Presently 
the  contagion  spread,  though  upon  strict  examination 
of  the  evidence  not  nearly  so  far  as  was  supposed. 
Hundreds  were  bewildered  and  terrified,  as  well  they 
might  be;  the  magistrates — Stoughton,  Sewall,  John 
Hathorne,  poor  octogenarian  Bradstreet,  Sir  William 
Phips — these  and  others  to  whom  it  fell  to  investigate 
and  pronounce  sentence — let  us  hope  that  some,  if  not 
all  of  them,  truly  believed  that  their  sentences  were 
just.  "God  will  give  you  blood  to  drink!"  was  what 
Sarah  Good  said  to  Noyes  as  she  stood  on  the  scaffold. 
But  why  may  they  not  have  believed  they  were  in  the 

258 


THE  NEW  LEAF,  AND  THE  BLOT  ON  IT 

right?  There  was  Cotton  Mather,  the  holy  man,  the 
champion  against  the  Evil  One,  the  saint  who  walked 
with  God,  and  daily  lifted  up  his  voice  in  prayer  and 
defiance  and  thanksgiving — he  was  ever  at  hand,  to 
cross-question,  to  insinuate,  to  surmise,  to  bluster,  to 
interpret,  to  terrify,  to  perplex,  to  vociferate:  surely 
this  paragon  of  learning  and  virtue  must  know  more 
about  the  devil  than  any  mere  layman  could  pretend 
to  know ;  and  they  must  accept  his  assurance  and  guid- 
ance. "I  stake  my  reputation,"  he  shouted,  "upon  the 
truth  of  these  accusations."  And  he  pointedly  prayed 
that  the  trial  might  "have  a  good  issue."  When  Deliv- 
erance Hobbs  was  under  examination,  she  did  but  cast 
a  glance  toward  the  meetinghouse,  "and,"  cries  the  rev- 
erend gentleman  in  an  ecstasy  of  indignation,  "imme- 
diately a  demon,  invisibly  entering  the  house,  tore  down 
a  part  of  it !"  No  wonder  a  man  so  gifted  as  he  was  con- 
scious of  a  certain  gratification  amid  all  the  horrors  of 
the  diabolic  visitation,  for  how  could  he  regard  it  other- 
wise than  as — in  his  own  words — "a  particular  defiance 
unto  myself!"  Such  was  the  pose  which  he  adopted 
before  his  countrymen :  that  of  a  seinidivine,  or  quite 
divine,  man,  standing  between  his  fellow  creatures  and 
the  assaults  of  hell.  And  then  Cotton  Mather  would 
go  home  to  his  secret  chamber  and  write  in  his  diary 
that  God  and  religion  were  perhaps,  after  all,  but  an 
old  wives'  tale. 

Parris,  as  soon  as  he  comprehended  Mather's  drift, 
ably  seconded  him.  He  had  his  own  grudges  against 
his  neighbors  to  work  off,  and  nothing  could  be  easier. 
All  that  was  needed  was  for  one  of  the  children,  or  any- 
one else,  to  affirm  that  they  were  afflicted,  and  perhaps 
to  foam  at  the  mouth,  or  be  contorted  as  in  a  fit,  and 
to  accuse  whatever  person  they  chose  as  being  the  cause 
of  their  trouble.  Accusation  was  equivalent  to  con- 
demnation ;  for  to  deny  it,  was  to  be  subjected  to  tor- 
ture until  confession  was  extorted ;  if  the  accused  did 
not  confess,  he  or  she  was,  according  to  Cotton  Mather, 
supported  by  the  Evil  One,  and  being  a  witch,  must  die. 
If  they  did  confess,  they  were  spared  or  executed  ac- 
cording to  circumstances.  If  anvone  expressed  any 

259 


HISTORY   OF   tfHE   UNITED   STATES 

doubt  as  to  the  justice  of  the  sentence,  or  as  to  the  ex- 
istence of  witchcraft,  it  was  proof  that  that  person  was 
a  witch.  The  only  security  was  to  join  the  ranks  of 
the  afflicted.  In  the  course  of  a  few  months  a  reign  of 
terror  was  established,  and  hundreds  of  people,  some 
of  them  citizens  of  distinction,  were  in  jail  or  under 
suspicion.  Twenty  were  hanged  on  Witches'  Hill,  west 
of  the  town  of  Salem,  while  Cotton  Mather  sat  com- 
fortably by  on  his  horse,  and  assured  the  people  that 
all  was  well,  and  that  the  devil  could  sometimes  as- 
sume the  appearance  of  an  angel  of  light — as,  indeed, 
he  might  have  good  cause  to  believe.  But  the  mass  of 
the  people  were  averse  from  bloodshed,  and  none  too 
sure  that  these  executions  were  other  than  murders; 
and  when  the  wife  of  Governor  Phips  was  accused,  the 
frenzy  had  passed  its  height.  It  was  perceived  that  the 
community,  or  a  part  of  it,  had  been  stampeded  by  a 
panic  or  infatuation.  They  had  done  and  countenanced 
things  which  now  seemed  impossible  even  to  themselves. 
How  could  they  have  condemned  the  Keverend  George 
Burroughs  on  the  ground  that  he  had  exhibited  re- 
markable physical  strength,  and  that  the  witnesses 
against  him  had  pretended  dumbness?  "Why  is  the 
devil  so  loth  to  have  testimony  borne  against  you?" 
Judge  Stoughton  had  asked;  and  Cotton  Mather  had 
said  "Enough !"  But  was  it  enough,  indeed  ?  If  a  wit- 
ness simply  by  holding  his  peace  can  hang  a  minister 
of  blameless  life,  who  may  escape  hanging  by  a  witness 
who  will  talk  ?  It  was  remembered  that  Parris  had  been 
Burroughs's  rival,  and  instrumental  in  his  conviction; 
and  now  that  the  frenzy  was  past  it  was  easy  to  point 
out  the  relation  between  the  two  facts.  There,  too,  was 
the  venerable  Giles  Cory,  who  had  been  pressed  to 
death,  not  for  pleading  guilty,  nor  yet  for  pleading  not 
guilty,  but  for  declining  to  plead  at  all.  There,  once 
more,  was  John  Willard,  to  whom  the  duty  of  arresting 
accused  witches  had  been  assigned;  he  as  a  person  of 
common  sense  and  honesty  had  intimated  his  disbe- 
lief in  the  reality  of  witchcraft  by  refusing  to  arrest; 
and  for  this,  and  no  other  crime,  had  he  been  hanged. 
Had  it  really  come  to  this,  then — that  one  must  die  for 

260 


THE    NEW    LEAF,    AND    THE    BLOT   ON    IT 

having  it  inferred,  from  some  act  of  his,  that  he  held 
an  opinion  on  the  subject  of  witchcraft  different  from 
that  announced  by  Mather  and  the  magistrates?  It  had 
come  to  precisely  that  in  a  community  who  were  exiles 
in  order  to  secure  liberty  to  have  what  opinions  they 
liked.  Then  it  was  time  that  the  witchcraft  persecu- 
tions came  to  an  end;  and  they  did  as  abruptly  as  they 
had  begun.  Mather,  indeed,  and  a  few  more,  fright- 
ened lest  the  people,  in  their  recovered  sanity,  should 
turn  upon  them  for  an  accounting,  strove  their  best  to 
keep  up  the  horror;  but  it  was  not  to  be.  No  more 
convictions  could  be  obtained.  In  February  of  1693, 
Parris  was  banished  from  Salem ;  others,  except  Stough- 
ton,  who  remained  obdurate,  made  public  confession 
of  error. 

But  Cotton  Mather,  the.  soul  of  the  whole  iniquity, 
shrouded  himself  in  a  cuttlefish  cloud  of  turgid 
rhetoric,  and  escaped  scot-free.  So  great  was  the 
power  of  theological  prestige  in  New  England  two 
hundred  years  ago. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  sincere  believers  in  the 
witchcraft  delusion  were  very  scanty.  The  vast  major- 
ity of  the  people  were  simply  victims  of  moral  and 
physical  cowardice.  They  feared  to  exchange  views 
with  one  another  frankly,  lest  their  interlocutor  turn 
out  an  informer.  They  repeated,  parrotlike,  the  con- 
ventional utterances — the  shibboleths — of  the  hour, 
and  thus  hid  from  one  another  the  real  thoughts  which 
would  have  scotched  the  mania  at  the  outset.  Once 
plant  mutual  suspicion  and  dread  among  a  people,  and, 
for  a  time,  you  may  drive  them  whither  you  will.  It 
was  by  that  means  that  the  Council  of  Ten  ruled  in 
Venice,  the  Inquisition  in  Spain,  and  the  Vehmgericht 
in  Germany;  and  it  was  by  that  means  that  Cotton 
Mather  enslaved  Salem.  The  episode  is  a  stain  on  the 
fair  page  of  our  history;  but  Cotton  Mather  was  the 
origin  and  agent  of  it ;  Parris  may  have  voluntarily  as- 
sisted him,  and  some  or  all  of  the  magistrates  and 
others  concerned  may  have  been  his  dupes ;  but  beyond 
this  handful,  the  support  was  never  more  than  per- 
functory. 

261 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

The  instant  the  weight  of  dread  was  lightened 
everybody  discovered  that  everybody  else  had  be- 
lieved all  along  that  the  whole  thing  was  either  a  de- 
lusion or  a  fraud.  Until  then  they  had  none  of  them 
had  the  courage  to  say  so — that  was  all.  And  let 
us  not  be  scornful:  the  kind  of  courage  that  would 
say  so  is  the  very  rarest  and  highest  courage  in  the 
world. 

But  though  Cotton  Mather  is  almost  or  entirely 
chargeable  with  the  guilt  of  the  twenty  murders  on 
Witches'  Hill,  not  to  mention  the  incalculable  agony 
of  soul  and  domestic  misery  incidentally  occasioned, 
yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  he  was  of  Puritan 
stock  and  training,  and  that,  false  and  detestable 
though  his  individual  nature  doubtless  was,  his  crimes, 
but  for  Puritanism,  could  not  have  taken  the  form  they 
did.  Puritanism  was  prone  to  brood  over  predestination, 
over  the  flames  of  hell,  and  him  who  kept  them  burn- 
ing; it  was  severe  in  repressing  natural  expressions 
of  gayety;  it  was  intolerant  of  unlicensed  opinions, 
and  it  crushed  spontaneity  and  innocent  frivolity.  It 
aimed,  in  a  word,  to  deform  human  nature,  and  make 
of  it  somewhat  rigid  and  artificial.  These  were  some 
of  the  faults  of  Puritanism,  and  it  was  these  which 
made  possible  such  a  monstrosity  as  Cotton  Mather. 
He  was,  in  a  measure,  a  creature  of  his  time  and  place, 
and  in  this  degree  we  must  consider  Puritanism  as 
amenable,  "with  him,  at  the  bar  of  history.  It  is  for 
this  reason  solely  that  the  witchcraft  episode  assumes 
historical  importance,  instead  of  being  a  side  scene  of 
ghastly  picturesqueness.  For  the  Puritans  took  it  to 
heart ;  they  never  forgot  it ;  it  modified  their  character, 
and  gave  a  favorable  turn  to  their  future.  Gradually 
the  evil  of  their  system  was  purged  out  of  it  while 
the  good  remained;  they  became  less  harsh,  but  not 
less  strong;  they  were  high-minded  still,  but  they  ab- 
jured narrowness.  They  would  not  go  so  far  as  to  deny 
that  the  devil  might  afflict  mankind,  but  they  declared 
themselves  unqualified  to  prove  it.  There  began  in 
them,  in  short,  the  dawn  of  human  sympathies  and 
the  growth  of  spiritual  humility.  Cotton  Mather, 

262 


THE  NEW  LEAF,  AND  THE  BLOT  ON  IT 

with  all  that  he  represented,  sinks  into  the  mire; 
but  the  true  Puritan  arises,  and  goes  forward  with 
lightened  heart  to  the  mighty  destiny  that  awaits 
him. 

As  for  bluff  Sir  William  Phips,  he  is  better  remem- 
bered for  his  youthful  exploits  of  hoisting  treasure  from 
the  fifty-year-old  wreck  of  a  Spanish  galleon,  in  the 
reign  of  King  James,  and  of  building  with  some  of  the 
proceeds  his  "fair  brick  house,  in  the  Green  Lane  of 
Boston,"  than  for  his  administration  of  government 
during  his  term  of  office.  He  was  an  uneducated,  rough- 
handed,  rough -iiatured  man,  a  ship  carpenter  by  trade, 
and  a  mariner  of  experience ;  statesmanship  and  diplo- 
macy were  not  his  proper  business.  A  wise  head  as 
well  as  a  strong  hand  was  needed  at  the  helm  of  Massa- 
chusetts just  at  that  juncture.  But  he  did  not  pre- 
vent the  Legislature  from  passing  some  good  laws,  and 
from  renewing  the  life  of  New  England  towns,  which 
had  been  suppressed  by  Andros.  The  new  charter  had 
greatly  enlarged  the  Massachusetts  domain,  which  now 
extended  over  the  northern  and  eastern  regions  that  in- 
cluded Maine;  but,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  the  obli- 
gation to  defend  this  territory  against  the  French  and 
Indians  cost  the  colony  much  more  than  could  be  rec-' 
ompensed  by  any  benefit  they  got  from  it.  Phips  cap- 
tured Port  Royal,  but  failed  to  take  Quebec.  The  Legis- 
lature, advised  by  the  public-spirited  Elisha  Cooke, 
kept  the  royal  officials  in  hand  by  refusing  to  vote  them 
permanent  salaries  or  regular  revenues.  Bellomont 
succeeded  Phips,  and  Dudley,  in  1702,  followed  Bello- 
rnoiit,  upon  the  solicitation  of  Cotton  Mather;  who 
long  ere  this,  in  his  "Book  of  Memorable  Providences," 
had  shifted  all  blame  for  the  late  tragic  occurrences 
from  his  own  shoulders  to  those  of  the  Almighty. 
Dudley  retained  the  governorship  till  1715.  The  weight 
of  what  authority  he  had  was  on  the  side  of  restricting 
charter  privileges ;  but  he  could  produce  no  measurable 
effect  in  retarding  the  mighty  growth  of  liberty.  We 
shall  not  meet  him  again. 

New  Hampshire  fully  maintained  her  reputation  for 
intractability ;  and  the  general  drift  of  colonial  affairs 

263 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

toward  freedom  was  so  marked  as  to  become  a  common 
subject  of  remark  in  Europe.  Some  of  the  best  heads 
there  began  to  suggest  that  such  a  consummation 
might  not  be  inexpedient.  But  before  England  and  her 
colonies  were  to  try  their  strength  against  one  another, 
there  were  to  occur  the  four  colonial  wars  by  which 
the  colonists  were  unwittingly  trained  to  meet  their 
most  formidable  and  their  final  adversary. 


264 


CHAPTER   X 

FIFTY   YEARS  OF  FOOLS  AND   HEROES 

WHEN  thieves  fall  out,  honest  men  come  by  their 
own.     The  first  clause  of  this  sentence  may 
serve    to    describe    the    Colonial    Wars    in 
America ;  the  second,  to  point  the  moral  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution. 

Columbus,  and  the  other  great  mariners  of  the  Fif- 
teenth and  Sixteenth  Centuries,  might  claim  for  their 
motives  an  admixture  at  least  of  thoughts  higher 
than  mere  material  gain :  the  desire  to  enlarge  knowl- 
edge, to  win  glory,  to  solve  problems.  But  the  patrons 
and  proprietors  of  the  adventurers  had  an  eye  single 
to  profit.  To  make  money  was  their  aim.  In  overland 
trading  there  was  small  profit  and  scanty  business; 
but  the  opening  of  the  sea  as  a  path  to  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  a  revelation  of  their  existence — and  of  the 
fortuitous  fact  that  they  were  inhabited  by  savages 
who  could  not  defend  themselves — completely  trans- 
formed the  situation. 

Ships  could  bring  in  months  more,  a  hundredfold 
more  merchandise  than  caravans  could  transport  in 
years;  and  the  expenses  of  carriage  were  minimized. 
Goods  thus  placed  in  the  market  could  be  sold  at  a 
vast  profit.  This  was  the  first  obvious  fact.  Secondly, 
this  profit  could  be  made  to  inure  exclusively  to  that 
country  whose  ships  made  the  discovery,  by  the  simple 
device  of  claiming,  as  integral  parts  of  the  kingdom, 
whatever  new  lands  they  discovered;  the  ships  of  all 
other  nations  could  then  be  forbidden  to  trade  there. 
Thirdly,  colonists  could  be  sent  out  who  would  serve  a 
double  use — they  would  develop  and  export  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  new  country;  and  they  would  constitute 
an  ever-increasing  market  for  the  exports  of  the  home 
country. 

265 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Such  was  the  ideal.  To  realize  it  three  things  were 
necessary :  f\rst,  that  the  natives — the  "heathen" — 
should  be  dominated,  and  either  converted  or  extermi- 
nated; next,  that  the  fiat  of  exclusion  against  other 
nations  should  be  made  good;  and,  finally  (most  vital 
of  all,  though  the  last  to  be  considered),  that  the 
colonists  themselves  should  forfeit  all  but  a  fraction  of 
their  personal  interests  in  favor  of  the  monopolists  at 
home. 

Now,  as  to  the  heathen,  some  of  them,  like  the  Carib- 
beans,  could  be — and  by  Spanish  methods  they  were — 
exterminated.  Others,  such  as  the  Mexican  and  Central 
and  South  American  tribes,  could  be  in  part  killed  off, 
in  part  "converted"  as  it  was  called.  Others  again, 
like  the  Indians  of  North  America,  could  neither  be 
converted  nor  exterminated;  but  they  could  be  in  a 
measure  conciliated,  and  they  could  always  be  fought. 
The  general  result  was  that  the  natives  cooperated  to  a 
certain  extent  in  providing  articles  for  export  (chiefly 
furs),  and  on  the  other  hand  delayed  colonization  by 
occasionally  massacring  the  first  small  groups  of  colo- 
nists. In  the  long  run  however  most  of  them  disap- 
peared, so  far  as  power  either  for  use  or  for  offense 
was  concerned. 

The  attempt  of  the  several  colonizing  powers  to 
make  their  rivals  keep  out  of  their  preserves  was  not 
successful.  Piracy,  smuggling,  privateering,  and  open 
war  were  the  answers  of  the  nations  to  one  another's 
inhibitions,  though,  all  the  while,  none  of  them  ques- 
tioned the  correctness  of  the  excluding  principle.  Each 
of  them  practiced  it  themselves,  though  trying  to  de- 
feat its  practice  by  others.  Portugal,  the  first  of  the 
foreign-trading  and  monopolizing  nations,  was  early 
forced  out  of  the  business  by  more  powerful  rivals; 
Holland  was  the  first  to  call  the  principle  itself  in 
question,  and  to  fight  in  the  cause  of  free  commerce; 
though  even  she  had  her  little  private  treasure  box  in 
Java.  Spain's  commerce  was,  during  the  next  centuries, 
seriously  impaired  by  the  growing  might  of  England. 
France  was  the  next  to  suffer;  and  finally  England, 
after  meeting  with  much  opposition  from  her  own 

266 


FIFTY    YEARS   OF    FOOLS    AND    HEROES 

colonies,  was  called  upon  to  confront  a  European 
coalition;  and  while  she  was  putting  forth  her  strength 
to  overcome  that,  her  colonies  revolted,  and  achieved 
their  independence.  Such  was  the  history  and  fate  of 
the  colonial  system;  though  Spain  still  retained  much 
of  her  American  possessions  (owing  to  peculiar  con- 
ditions) for  years  afterward. 

But  England  might  have  retained  her  settlements 
too,  so  far  as  Europe  was  concerned;  the  real  cause 
of  her  discomfiture  lay  in  the  fact  that  her  colonists 
were  mainly  people  of  her  own  blood,  all  of  them  with 
an  inextinguishable  love  of  liberty,  which  was  fostered 
and  confirmed  by  their  marriage  with  the  wilderness ; 
and  many  of  whom  were  also  actuated  by  considera- 
tions of  religion  and  conscience,  the  value  of  which  they 
placed  a"bove  everything  else.  They  wished  to  be 
"loyal,"  but  they  would  not  surrender  what  they  termed 
innate  rights;  they  would  not  be  taxed  without  repre- 
sentation, nor  be  debarred  from  manufacturing;  nor 
consent  to  make  England  their  sole  depot  and  source 
of  supplies.  They  would  not  surrender  their  privilege 
to  be  governed  by  representatives  elected  by  them- 
selves. England,  as  we  have  seen,  contended  against 
this  spirit  by  all  manner  of  more  or  less  successful  en- 
actments and  acts  of  despotism ;  until  at  last,  near  the 
opening  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  it  became  evident 
to  a  few  far-seeing  persons  on  both  sides  that  the  mat- 
ter could  only  be  settled  by  open  force.  But  this 
method  of  arbitrament  was  postponed  for  half  a  cen- 
tury by  the  Colonial  Wars,  which  made  of  the  colonists 
a  united  people,  and  educated  them  from  farmers  and 
traders  into  a  military  nation.  Then  the  war  came, 
and  the  United  States  was  its  consequence. 

The  Colonial  Wars  were  between  England  on  one 
side,  and  Spain  and  France  on  the  other.  Spain  was 
not  a  serious  foe  or  obstacle;  England  had  no  special 
hankering  after  Florida  and  Mexico,  and  she  knew 
nothing  about  the  great  Californian  region.  But 
France  harried  her  on  the  north,  and  pushed  her  back 
on  the  west,  the  first  collisions  in  this  direction  oc- 
curring at  the  Alleghenies  and  along  the  Ohio  River. 

267 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

France  had  discovered,  claimed,  and  in  a  certain  sense 
occupied,  a  huge  wedge  of  the  present  United  States: 
an  area  which  (apart  from  Canada)  extended  from 
Maine  to  Oregon,  and  down  in  converging  lines  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  They  called  it  Louisiana.  The  story 
of  the  men  who  explored  it  is  a  story  of  heroism,  de- 
votion, energy  and  sublime  courage  perhaps  unequaled 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  But  France  failed  to  fol- 
low up  these  men  with  substantial  colonies.  Colonies 
could  not  help  the  fur  trade  at  the  north,  and  the 
climate  there  was  anything  but  attractive ;  and  mishaps 
of  various  kinds  prevented  the  colonizing  of  the  great 
Mississippi  valley.  There  was  a  little  French  settle- 
ment near  the  mouths  of  that  river,  the  descendants  of 
which  still  give  character  to  New  Orleans ;  but  the  rest 
of  the  enormous  triangle  was  occupied  chiefly  by  mis- 
sionaries and  trappers,  and,  during  the  wars,  with  the 
operating  military  forces.  France  would  have  made 
a  far  less  effective  resistance  than  she  did,  had  she  not 
observed,  from  the  first,  the  policy  of  allying  herself 
with  the  Indian  tribes,  and  even  incorporating  them 
with  herself.  All  converted  Indians  were  French  citi- 
zens by  law;  the  French  soldiers  and  settlers  inter- 
married to  a  large  extent  with  the  red  men,  and  the 
half-breed  became  almost  a  race  of  itself.  The  savages 
took  much  more  kindly  to  the  picturesque  and  emo- 
tional Church  of  Rome  than  to  the  gloomy  severities  of 
the  Puritan  Calvinists;  the  "praying  Indians"  were 
numerous;  and  the  Cross  became  a  real  link  between 
the  red  men  and  the  white.  This  fact  was  of  immense 
value  in  the  wars  with  the  English ;  and,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  neutrality  or  active  friendliness  of  a  group 
of  tribes  whom  the  Jesuit  missionaries  had  failed  to 
win,  the  English  colonies  might  have  been  quite  ob- 
literated. The  policy  of  employing  savages  in  warfare 
between  civilized  states  was  denounced  then  and  after- 
ward; it  led  to  the  perpetration  of  sickening  barbari- 
ties; but  it  was  France's  only  chance,  and,  speaking 
practically,  it  was  hardly  avoidable.  Besides,  the  Eng- 
lish did  not  hesitate  to  enlist  Indians  on  their  side, 
when  they  could.  Had  the  savages  fought  after  the 

268 


FIFTY    YEARS    OF    FOOLS    AND    HEROES 

manner  of  the  white  men,  it  would  have  been  well 
enough ;  but  on  the  contrary,  they  imposed  their 
methods  upon  the  whites;  and  most  of  the  conflicts 
had  more  of  the  character  of  massacres  than  of  battles.] 
Women  and  children  were  mercilessly  slain,  or  carried 
into  captivity.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
American  continent  at  that  time  did  not  admit  of  such 
tactics  as  were  employed  in  Europe — as  Braddock 
found  to  his  cost ;  operations  must  be  chiefly  by  am- 
buscade and  surprise;  when  the  town  or  the  fort  was 
captured  it  was  not  easy  to  restrain  the  wild  men ;  and 
if  they  plied  the  tomahawk  without  regard  to  sex  or 
age,  the  white  soldiers,  little  less  savage,  readily 
learned  to  follow  their  example.  After  all,  the  wars 
were  necessarily  for  extermination,  and  there  is  no  bet- 
ter way  to  exterminate  a  people — as  Spain  has  uni- 
formly shown  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  her 
history — than  by  murdering  their  women  and  children. 
They  are  ''innocent,"  no  doubt,  so  far  as  active  hostili- 
ties are  concerned ;  but  they  breed,  or  become,  men  and 
thereby  threaten  the  future.  Moreover,  not  a  few  of 
the  women  did  deeds  of  warlike  valor  themselves.  It 
was  a  savage  time,  and  war  has  its  hideous  side  always, 
and  in  this  period  seemed  to  have  hardly  any  other. 

The  pioneering  on  this  continent  of  the  Spanish  and 
the  French,  though  in  itself  a  captivating  story,  can- 
not properly  be  dwelt  on  in  a  history  of  the  growth  of 
the  American  principle.  Ponce  de  Leon  traversed 
Florida  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  Sixteenth  Century, 
hunting  for  the  Fountain  of  Immortality,  and  finding 
death.  Hernando  de  Soto  wandered  over  the  area  of 
several  of  our  present  Southern  States,  and  discovered 
the  lower  reaches  of  the  Mississippi ;  he  was  a  man  of 
blood,  and  his  blood  was  shed.  Some  score  of  years 
later  Spaniards  massacred  the  Huguenot  Colony  at  St. 
Augustine  and  built  that  oldest  of  American  cities,  j 
Beyond  this,  on  the  Atlantic  slope,  they  never  pro- 
ceeded, having  enough  to  do  further  south.  But  they 
lay  claim,  even  in  these  opening  years  of  the  Twen- 
tieth Century,  to  the  entire  American  continent — "if 
they  had  their  rights." 

269 


HISTORY   OP    THE    UNITED    STATES 

The  French  began  their  American  career  with  an 
Italian  employee,  Verrazano,  who  spied  out  the  coast 
from  Florida  to  Newfoundland  in  1524.  Then  Cartier 
peered  into  the  wide  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
tried  to  get  to  India  by  that  route,  but  got  no  further 
than  the  present  Montreal.  In  the  next  century,  Cham- 
plain,  one  of  the  great  explorers  and  the  first  Governor 
of  Canada,  laid  the  corner  stone  of  Quebec ;  it  became 
at  once  the  center  of  Canadian  trade  which  it  has  erer 
since  remained.  This  was  in  1608.  In  respect  of  enter- 
prise as  explorers  the  French  easily  surpassed  the 
farm-loving,  home-building,  multiplying  colonists  of 
England.  But  England  took  advantage  of  French  dis- 
coveries, and  stayed,  and  prevailed.  God  makes  men 
help  each  other  in  their  own  despite. 

Richelieu  said  in  1627  that  the  name,  New  France, 
designated  the  whole  continent  of  America  from  the 
North  Pole  down  to  Florida.  The  Jesuits,  who  arose  as 
a  counteracting  force  to  Luther  and  the  Reformation, 
supplanted  the  Franciscans  as  missionaries  among  the 
heathen,  and  performed  what  can  only  be  called  prodi- 
gies of  self-sacrifice  and  intrepidity.  Loyola  was  a 
worthy  antagonist  of  Calvin,  and  the  first  achievements 
of  his  followers  were  the  more  striking.  But  the  mag- 
nificent exploits  of  these  men  were  not  the  preliminary 
of  commensurate  colonization.  The  spirit  of  Calvin  in- 
spired large  bodies  of  men  and  women  to  establish 
themselves  in  the  wilderness  in  order  to  cultivate  his 
doctrines  without  interference;  the  spirit  of  Loyola 
embodied  no  new  religious  principle;  it  simply  kindled 
individuals  to  fresh  exertions  to  promulgate  the  un- 
changing dogmas  of  the  Roman  Church.  The  Jesuits 
were  leaders  without  followers;  their  mission  was  to 
bring  the  Church  to  the  heathen,  and  the  heathen  into 
the  Church;  and  the  impressiveness  of  their  activity 
was  due  to  the  daring  and  faith  which  pitted  units 
against  thousands,  and  refused  to  accept  defeat.  They 
were  the  knight-errantry  of  religion.  The  fame  of  their 
deeds  inspired  enthusiasm  in  France,  so  that  noble 
women  gave  up  their  luxurious  lives  for  the  sake  of 
planting  faith  in  the  inhospitable  immensities  of  the 

270 


FIFTY    YEARS    OF    FOOLS    AND    HEROES 

Canadian  forests;  but  the  mass  of  the  common  people 
were  not  stimulated  or  attracted ;  the  profits  of  the  fur 
trade  employed  but  a  handful;  and  the  blood  of  the 
Jesuit  martyrs — none  more  genuine  ever  died — was 
poured  out  almost  without  practical  results.  Our  esti- 
mate of  human  nature  is  exalted;  but  there  are  no 
happy  communities  to-day  which  owe  their  existence 
to  the  Jesuit  pioneers.  The  priests  themselves  were 
wifeless  and  childless,  and  the  family  hearthstone  could 
not  be  planted  on  the  sites  of  their  immolations  and 
triumphs.  Nor  were  the  disciples  of  Loyola  aided,  as 
were  the  Calvinists,  by  persecution  at  home.  All  alike 
were  good  Catholics.  But  had  the  Jesuits  advocated 
but  a  single  principle  of  human  freedom,  France  might 
have  been  mistress  of  America  to-day. 

So,  under  the  One  Hundred  Assistants,  as  the  French 
colonizing  company  of  the  early  Seventeenth  Century 
was  called,  missions  were  dotted  throughout  the  loneli- 
ness and  terror  of  the  wilderness ;  Brebeuf  and  Daniel 
did  their  work  and  met  their  fate;  Raymbault  carried 
the  cross  to  Lake  Superior;  Gabriel  Dreuilettes  came 
down  the  Kennebec;  Jogues  was  tortured  by  the  Mo- 
hawks; Lallemaud  shed  his  blood  serenely;  Chaumonot 
and  Dablon  built  their  chapel  where  now  stands  Syra- 
cuse; and,  after  all,  there  stood  the  primeval  forests, 
pathless  as  before,  and  the  red  men  were  but  partially 
and  transiently  affected.  The  Hundred  Assistants  were 
dissolved,  and  a  new  colonial  organization  Was  operat- 
ing in  1664;  soldiers  were  sent  over,  and  the  Jesuits, 
still  unweariedly  in  the  van,  pushed  westward  to  Michi- 
gan, and  Marquette  and  Joliet,  two  young  men  of 
thirty-six  and  twenty-seven,  discovered  the  Mississippi, 
and  descended  it  as  far  as  Des  Moines ;  but  still  all  the 
inhabitants  of  New  France  could  easily  have  mustered 
in  a  ten-acre  field.  Then  in  1666  came  Robert  Cavalier 
La  Salle,  a  cadet  of  a  good  family,  educated  in  a 
Jesuit  seminary,  but  destined  to  incur  the  enmity  of 
the  order,  and  at  last  to  perish,  not  indeed  at  their 
hands,  but  in  consequence  of  conditions  largely  due  to 
them.  The  towering  genius  of  this  young  man — he  was 
but  just  past  his  majority  when  he  came  to  Montreal, 

271 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

and  he  was  murdered  by  his  treacherous  traveling  com- 
panion, Duhaut,  on  a  branch  of  Trinity  River  in  Texas, 
before  he  had  reached  the  age  of  five  and  forty — his  in- 
domitable courage,  his  tact  and  firmness  in  dealing 
with  all  kinds  of  men,  from  the  Grand  Monarch  to  the 
humblest  savage,  his  great  thoughts  and  his  wonderful 
exploits,  his  brilliant  fortune  and  his  appalling  calami- 
ties, both  of  which  he  met  with  an  equal  mind — these 
qualities  and  the  events  which  displayed  them  make 
La  Salle  the  peer  at  least  of  any  of  his  countrymen 
of  that  age.  What  must  be  the  temper  of  a  man  who, 
after  encountering  and  overcoming  incredible  opposi- 
tion, after  being  the  victim  of  unrelenting  misfortune, 
including  loss  of  means,  friends,  and  credit,  of  deadly 
fevers,  of  shipwreck — could  rise  to  his  feet  amid  the 
destruction  of  all  that  he  had  labored  for  twenty  years 
to  build  up,  and  confidently  and  cheerfully  undertake 
the  enterprise  of  traveling  on  foot  from  Galveston  in 
Texas  to  Montreal  in  Canada,  to  ask  for  help  to  re- 
establish his  colony?  It  is  a  formidable  journey  to-day, 
with  all  the  appliances  of  steam  and  the  luxury  of  food 
and  accommodation  that  science  and  ingenuity  can 
frame;  it  would  be  a  portentous  trip  for  the  most  ac- 
complished modern  pedestrian,  assisted  though  he 
would  be  by  roads,  friendly  wayside  inns  and  farms, 
maps  of  the  route,  and  hobnailed  walking  boots.  La 
Salle  undertook  it  with  thousands  of  miles  of  uncharted 
wilderness  before  him,  through  tribes  assumed  to  be 
hostile  till  they  proved  themselves  otherwise,  with 
doubtful  and  quarreling  companions,  and  shod  with 
moccasins  of  green  hide.  Even  of  the  Frenchmen  whom 
he  might  meet  after  reaching  Illinois  the  majority,  be- 
ing under  Jesuit  influence,  would  be  hostile.  But  he 
had  faced  and  conquered  difficulties  as  great  as  these, 
and  he  had  no  fear.  At  the  time  the  scoundrel  Duhaut 
shot  him  from  ambush  he  was  making  hopeful  progress. 
But  it  was  decreed  that  France  was  not  to  stay  in 
America.  La  Salle  discovered  the  Ohio  and  the  Illi- 
nois, built  Fort  Crevecreur,  and  started  a  colony  on  the 
coast  of  Texas;  he  received  a  patent  of  nobility,  and 
lost  his  fortune  and  his  life.  The  pathos  of  such  a 

272 


FIFTY    YEARS    OF    FOOLS    AND    HEROES 

death  lies  in  the  consideration  that  his  plans  died  with 
him.  It  was  the  year  before  the  accession  of  William 
of  Orange;  and  the  first  war  with  France  began  two 
years  later. 

France,  after  all  drawbacks,  was  far  from  being  a 
foe  to  be  slighted.  The  English  colonists  outnumbered 
hers,  but  hers  were  all  soldiers;  they  had  trained  the 
Indians  to  the  use  of  firearms,  had  taught  them  how  to 
build  forts,  and  by  treating  them  as  equals,  had  won 
the  confidence  and  friendship  of  many  of  them.  The 
English  colonies,  on  the  other  hand,  had  as  yet  no  idea 
of  cooperation;  each  had  its  own  ideas  and  ways  of 
existence;  they  had  never  met  and  formed  acquaint- 
ance with  one  another  through  a  common  congress  of 
representatives.  They  were  planters,  farmers,  and  mer- 
chants, with  no  further  knowledge  of  war  than  was  to 
be  gained  by  repelling  the  attacks  of  savages,  and  re- 
taliating in  kind.  They  had  the  friendship  of  the  Five 
Nations,  and  they  received  help  from  English  regi- 
ments. But  the  latter  had  no  experience  of  forest  fight- 
ing, and  made  several  times  the  fatal  mistake  of 
undervaluing  their  enemy,  as  well  as  clinging  to  im- 
practicable formations  and  tactics.  The  English  officer^ 
did  not  conceal  their  contempt  for  the  "provincial" 
troops  who  were  not,  indeed,  comely  to  look  at  from  the 
conventional  military  standpoint,  but  who  bore  the 
brunt  of  the  fighting,  won  most  of  the  successes,  and 
were  entirely  capable  of  resenting  the  slights  to  which 
they  were  unjustly  subjected.  What  was  quite  as  im- 
portant, bearing  in  mind  what  was  to  happen  in  1775, 
they  learned  to  gauge  the  British  fighting  capacity,  and 
did  not  fear,  when  the  time  came,  to  match  themselves 
against  it. 

King  William's  War  lasted  from  1689  to  1697.  Louis 
XIV  had  refused  to  recognize  William  as  a  legitimate 
King  of  England,  and  undertook  to  champion  the  cause 
of  the  dethroned  James.  The  conduct  of  the  war  in 
Europe  does  not  belong  to  our  inquiry.  The  proper 
course  for  the  French  to  have  adopted  in  America 
would  have  been  to  encourage  the  English  colonies  to 
revolt  against  the  King;  but  the  statesmanship  of  that 

273 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

age  had  not  conceived  the  idea  of  colonial  independence. 
Besides,  the  colonies  would  not  at  that  epoch  have  fallen 
in  with  the  scheme;  they  might  have  been  influenced 
to  rise  against  a  Stuart,  but  not  against  a  William. 
There  was  no  general  plan  of  campaign  on  either  side. 
There  was  no  question  as  yet  about  the  western  bor- 
ders. There  was  but  one  point  of  contact  of  New  France 
and  the  English  colonies — the  northern  boundaries  of 
New  England  and  New  York.  The  position  of  the  Eng- 
lish, strung  along  a  thousand  miles  of  the  Atlantic 
Coast,  did  not  favor  concentration  against  the  enemy, 
and  still  less  was  it  possible  for  the  latter,  with  their 
small  force,  to  march  south  and  overrun  the  country. 
What  could  be  done  then?  Obviously  nothing  but  to 
make  incursions  across  the  line,  after  the  style  of  the 
English  and  Scottish  border  warfare.  Nothing  could 
be  gained,  except  the  making  of  each  other  miserable. 
But  that  was  enough,  since  two  kings,  neither  of  whom 
any  of  the  combatants  had  seen,  were  angry  with  each 
other  three  thousand  miles  away.  Louis  does  not  ad- 
mit the  right  of  William,  doesn't  he? — says  the  Massa- 
chusetts farmer  to  the  Canadian  coureur  de  bois; 
and  without  more  ado  they  fly  at  each  others'  throats. 
The  successes,  such  as  they  were,  were  chiefly  on  the 
side  of  the  French.  Small  parties  of  Indians,  or  of 
French  and  Indians  combined,  would  steal  down  upon 
the  New  York  and  New  England  farms  and  villages, 
suddenly  leap  out  upon  the  man  and  his  sons  working 
in  their  clearings,  upon  the  woman  and  her  children 
in  the  hut:  a  whoop,  a  popping  of  musket  shots  and 
whistling  of  arrows,  then  the  vicious  swish  and  crash 
of  the  murderous  tomahawk,  followed  by  the  dexterous 
twist  of  the  scalping  knife,  and  the  snatching  of  the 
tuft  of  hair,  from  the  bleeding  skull.  That  is  all — but, 
no:  there  still  remains  a  baby  or  two  who  must  be 
caught  up  by  the  leg,  and  have  its  brains  dashed  out  on 
the  door  jamb ;  and  if  any  able-bodied  persons  survive, 
they  are  to  be  loaded  with  their  own  household  goods, 
and  driven  hundreds  of  miles  over  snows,  or  through 
heats,  to  Canada  as  slaves.  Should  they  drop  by  the 
way,  as  Mrs.  Williams  did,  down  comes  the  tomahawk 

274 


FIFTY    YEARS    OF    FOOLS    ANT)    HEROES 

again.  Or  perhaps  a  Mrs.  Dustin  learns  how  to  use  the 
weapon  so  as  to  kill  at  a  blow,  and  that  night  puts  her 
knowledge  to  the  proof  on  the  skulls  of  ten  sleeping 
savages,  and  so  escapes.  Occasionally  there  is  a  more 
important  massacre,  like  that  at  Schenectady,  or  Deer- 
field.  But  these  Indian  surprises  are  not  only  revolt- 
ing, but  monotonous  to  weariness,  and,  as  they  accom- 
plished nothing  but  a  given  number  of  murders,  there 
is  nothing  to  be  learned  from  them.  They  are  meaning- 
less ;  and  we  can  hardly  imagine  even  the  Grand  Mon- 
arch or  William  of  Orange  being  elated  or  depressed 
by  their  details. 

There  were  no  French  farms  or  small  villages  to  be  at- 
tacked in  requital,  so  it  was  necessary  for  the  English 
to  proceed  against  Port  Royal  or  Quebec.  The  aged 
hut  bloodthirsty  Frontenac  was  Governor  of  Canada 
at  this  time,  and  proved  himself  able  (aided  by  the 
imbecility  of  the  attack)  to  defend  it.  In  March  of 
1600  a  sort  of  congress  had  met  at  Albany,  which  sent 
word  to  the  several  colonial  governors  to  dispatch 
commissioners  to  Rhode  Island  for  a  general  confer- 
ence for  adopting  measures  of  defense  and  offense.  The 
delegates  met  in  May  or  the  last  of  April  at  New  York, 
and  decided  to  conquer  Canada  by  a  two-headed  cam- 
paign ;  one  army  to  go  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain  to 
Montreal,  while  a  fleet  should  proceed  against  Quebec. 
Sir  William  Phips  of  Massachusetts  was  off  to  Port 
Royal  within  four  weeks,  and  took  it  without  an  effort, 
there  being  hardly  anyone  to  defend  it.  But  Leisler  of 
New  York  and  Winthrop  of  Connecticut  quarreled  at 
Lake  Champlain,  and  that  part  of  the  plan  came  to  a 
disgraceful  end  forthwith.  A  month  or  so  later,  Phips 
was  blundering  pilotless  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  with 
two  thousand  Massachusetts  men  on  thirty-four  vessels. 
Their  coming  had  been  prepared  for,  and  when  they 
demanded  the  surrender  of  the  impregnable  fortress, 
with  a  garrison  more  numerous  than  themselves,  they 
were  answered  with  jeers;  and  it  is  painful  to  add  that 
they  turned  round  and  set  out  for  home  again  without 
striking  a  blow.  A  storm  completed  their  discomfiture ; 
and  when  Phips  at  last  brought  what  was  left  of  his 

275 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

fleet  into  harbor,  he  found  the  treasury  empty,  and  was 
forced  to  issue  paper  money  to  pay  his  bills. 

No  further  talk  of  "On  to  Quebec"  was  heard  for 
some  time.  Port  Royal  was  retaken  by  a  French  vessel. 
Parties  of  Indians,  encouraged  by  the  Jesuits,  again 
stole  over  the  border  and  did  the  familiar  work. 
Schuyler,  on  the  English  side,  succeeded  in  making  a 
successful  foray  in  1691 ;  and  a  fort  was  built  at 
Pemaquid — to  be  taken  five  years  afterward  by  Iber- 
ville  and  Castin.  In  1693  an  English  fleet,  which  had 
been  beaten  at  Martinique,  came  to  Boston  with  orders 
to  conquer  Canada ;  but  as  it  was  manned  by  warriors 
half  of  whom  were  dying  of  malignant  yellow  fever, 
Canada  was  spared  once  more.  The  only  really  formida- 
ble enemies  that  Frontenac  could  discover  were  the 
Five  Nations,  w^hom  he  tried  in  vain  to  frighten  or  to 
conciliate.  He  himself,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four, 
headed  the  last  expedition  against  them,  in  the  summer 
of  1696.  It  returned  without  having  accomplished  any- 
thing except  the  burning  of  villages  and  the  laying 
waste  of  lands.  The  following  year  peace  was  signed 
at  Ryswick,  a  village  in  South  Holland.  France  had 
done  well  in  the  field  and  by  negotiations;  but  Eng- 
land had  sustained  no  serious  reverses,  and  having 
borrowed  money  from  a  group  of  private  capitalists, 
whom  it  chartered  as  the  bank  of  England  in  1694,  was 
financially  stronger  than  ever.  Louis  accepted  the  re- 
sults of  the  English  Revolution,  but  kept  his  American 
holdings;  and  the  boundaries  between  these  and  the 
English  colonies  were  not  settled.  The  Five  Nations 
were  not  pacified  till  1700.  The  French  continued  their 
occupation  of  the  Mississippi  basin,  and  in  1699 
Lemoine  Iberville  sailed  for  the  Mississippi,  and  built 
a  fort  on  the  bay  of  Biloxi.  Communication  was  now 
established  between  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  Quebec. 
The  English,  through  the  agency  of  a  New  Jerseyman 
named  Coxe,  and  a  forged  journal  of  exploration  by 
Hennepin,  tried  to  get  a  foothold  on  the  great  river, 
but  the  attempt  was  fruitless.  Fruitless,  likewise,  were 
French  efforts  to  find  gold,  or,  indeed,  to  establish  a 
substantial  colony  themselves  in  the  feverish  Louisiana 

276 


FIFTY    YEARS    OF    FOOLS    AND    HEROES 

region.  Iberville  caught  the  yellow  plague  and  never 
fully  recovered;  and  the  desert-girded  fort  at  Mobile 
seemed  a  small  result  for  so  much  exertion. 

In  truth,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  peace  existed 
nowhere  except  on  the  paper  signed  at  Ryswick;  and 
in  1702  William  saw  that  he  must  either  fight  again, 
or  submit  to  a  union  between  France  and  Spain,  Louis 
XIV  becoming,  by  the  death  without  issue  of  the  Span- 
ish King,  sovereign  of  both  countries,  to  the  upsetting 
of  the  European  balance  of  power.  Spain  had  become 
a  nonentity ;  she  had  no  money,  no  navy,  no  commerce, 
no  manufactures,  and  a  population  reduced  by  emigra- 
tion, and  by  the  expulsion  of  Jews  and  Moors,  to  about 
seven  millions:  nothing  remained  to  her  but  that 
"pride"  of  which  she  was  always  so  solicitous,  based 
as  it  was  upon  her  achievements  as  a  robber,  a  mur- 
derer, a  despot  and  a  bigot.  She  now  had  no  king, 
which  was  the  least  of  her  losses,  but  gave  her  the 
power  of  disturbing  Europe  by  lapsing  to  the  French 
Bourbons. 

William  himself  was  close  to  death,  and  died  before , 
the  opening  year  of  the  war  was  over.  Louis  was  alive, 
and  was  to  remain  alive  for  thirteen  years  longer;  but 
he  was  sixty-four,  was  becoming  weary  and  discouraged, 
and  had  lost  his  ministers  and  generals.  On  the  Eng- 
lish side  was  Marlborough ;  and  the  battle  of  Blenheim, 
not  to  speak  of  the  European  combination  against 
France,  showed  how  the  game  was  going.  But  the  peace 
of  Utrecht  in  1713,  though  it  lasted  thirty  years,  was 
not  based  on  justice,  and  could  not  stand.  Spain  was 
deprived  of  her  possessions  in  the  Netherlands,  but  was 
allowed  to  keep  her  colonies,  and  the  loss  of  Gibraltar 
confirmed  her  hatred  of  England.  Belgium,  Antwerp, 
and  Austria  were  wronged,  and  France  was  insulted 
by  the  destruction  of  Dunkirk  harbor.  England  em- 
barked with  her  whole  heart  in  the  African  slave  trade, 
securing  the  monopoly  of  importing  negroes  into  the 
West  Indies  for  thirty  years,  and  being  the  exclusive 
dealer  in  the  same  commodity  along  the  Atlantic 
Coast.  Half  the  stock  in  the  business  was  owned  by 
the  English  people,  and  the  other  half  was  divided 

277 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

equally  between  Queen  Anne  and  Philip  of  Spain.  The 
profits  were'enormous.  Meanwhile  the  treaty  between 
Spain  and  England  allowed  and  legitimatized  the  smug- 
gling operations  of  the  latter  in  the  West  Indies,  a 
measure  which  was  sure  to  involve  our  colonies  sooner 
or  later  in  the  irrepressibe  conflict.  England,  again, 
got  Hudson  Bay,  Newfoundland,  Nova  Scotia,  but 
not  the  Mississippi  valley  from  France.  Boundary 
lines  were  not  accurately  determined ;  and  could  not  be 
until  the  wars  between  1744  and  1763  finally  decided 
these  and  other  matters  in  England's  favor.  The  most 
commendable  clause  in  the  treaty  was  the  one  inserted 
by  Bolingbroke  that  defined  contraband,  and  the  rights 
of  blockade,  and  laid  down  the  rule  that  free  ships 
should  give  freedom  to  goods  carried  in  them. 

Anne,  a  daughter  of  James  II,  but  a  partisan  of 
William,  succeeded  him  in  1702  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
seven;  she  was  herself  governed  by  the  Marlboroughs 
and  Mrs.  Masham — an  intelligent  woman  of  humble 
birth,  who  became  keeper  of  her  Majesty's  privy  purse. 
The  war  which  the  Queen  inherited,  and  which  was 
called  by  her  name,  lasted  till  the  final  year  of  her 
reign.  Only  New  England  on  the  north  and  Carolina 
on  the  south  were  participants  in  the  fray  on  this  side, 
and  >no  great  glory  or  advantage  accrued  to  either. 
New  York  was  sheltered  by  the  neutrality  of  the  Five 
Nations,  and  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  the  rest  were 
beyond  the  reach  of  French  operations. 

The  force  raised  by  South  Carolina  to  capture  St. 
Augustine  had  expected  to  receive  cannon  for  the  siege 
from  Jamaica;  but  the  cannon  failed  them,  and  they 
retreated  with  nothing  to  show  but  a  debt  which  they 
liquidated  in  paper.  They  had  better  luck  with  an  ex- 
pedition to  sever  the  Spanish  line  of  communication 
with  Louisiana;  the  Spanish  and  Indians  were  beaten 
in  December,  1705,  and  the  neighboring  inhabitants 
along  the  Gulf  emigrated  to  South  Carolina.  Then  the 
French  set  out  to  take  Charleston;  but  the  Hugue- 
nots were  mindful  of  St.  Bartholomew  and  of  the  revo- 
cation of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  they  set  upon  the 
invaders  when  they  landed,  and  slew  three  out  of  every 

278 


FIFTY    YEARS    OF    FOOLS    AND    HEROES 

eight  of  them.    The  South  Carolinians  were  let  alone 
thereafter. 

In  the  north,  the  French  secured  the  neutrality  of 
the  Senecas,  but  the  English  failed  to  do  the  like  with 
the  Abenakis,  and  the  massacring  season  set  in  with 
marked  severity  on  the  Maine  border  in  the  summer  of 
1703.  It  was  in  the  ensuing  winter  that  the  Deerfield 
affair  took  place;  the  crusted  snow  was  so  deep  that 
it  not  only  gave  the  French  and  Indian  war  party  good 
walking  down  from  Canada,  but  enabled  them  to  mount 
up  the  drifts  against  the  palisades  of  the  town  and 
leap  down  inside.  The  sentinels  were  not  on  guard 
that  morning;  though,  warned  by  the  Mohawks,  the 
people  had  been  looking  for  the  attack  all  winter  long. 
What  is  to  be  said  of  these  tragedies?  When  we  have 
realized  the  awful  pang  in  a  mother's  heart,  wakened 
from  sleep  by  that  shrill,  triumphant  yell  of  the  In- 
dian, and  knowing  that  in  a  moment  she  will  see  her 
children's  faces  covered  with  the  blood  and  brains  from 
their  crushed  skulls,  we  shall  have  nothing  more  to 
learn  from  Indian  warfare.  How  many  mothers  felt 
that  pang  in  the  pale  dawn  of  that  frosty  morning  in 
Deerfield?  After  the  war  party  had  done  the  work, 
and  departed  exulting  with  their  captives,  how  many 
motionless  corpses,  in  what  ghastly  attitudes,  lay  hud- 
dled in  the  darksome  rooms  of  the  little  houses,  or  were 
tossed  upon  the  trodden  snow  without,  the  looks  of 
mortal  agony  frozen  on  their  features?  But  you  will 
hear  the  howl  of  the  wolves  by  and  by;  and  the  black 
bear  will  come  shuffling  and  sniffing  through  the  broken 
doors;  and  when  the  frightful  feast  is  over,  there  will 
be,  in  place  of  these  poses  of  death,  only  disordered 
heaps  of  gnawed  bones,  and  shreds  of  garments  rent 
asunder,  and  the  grin  of  half-eaten  skulls.  Nothing 
else  remains  of  a  happy  and  innocent  community.  Why 
were  they  killed,?  Had  they  harmed  their  killers ?  Was 
any  military  advantage  gained  by  their  death?  They 
had  harmed  no  one,  and  nothing  was  gained,  or  pre- 
tended to  be  gained,  by  their  murder:  nothing  except 
to  establish  the  principle  that,  since  two  countries  in 
Europe  were  at  war,  those  emigrants  of  theirs  who  had 

279 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

voyaged  hither  in  quest  of  peace  and  happiness  should 
lie  in  wait  to  destroy  one  another.  Human  sympathies 
have  sometimes  strange  ways  of  avouching  themselves. 

People  become  accustomed  even  to  massacre.  But  the 
children  born  in  these  years,  who  were  themselves  to 
be  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  the  generation  of  the 
Revolution,  must  have  sucked  in  stern  and  fierce  quali- 
ties with  the  milk  from  their  mothers'  breasts.  No  one, 
even  in  the  midst  of  Massachusetts,  was  safe  during 
that  first  decade  of  the  Eighteenth  Century.  A  single 
Indian,  in  search  of  glory,  would  spend  weeks  in  creep- 
ing southward  from  the  far  border;  he  would  await  his 
chance  long  and  patiently;  he  would  leap  out,  and 
strike,  and  vanish  again,  leaving  that  silent  horror  be- 
hind him.  Such  deeds,  and  the  constant  possibility  of 
them,  left  their  mark  upon  the  whole  population.  They 
grew  up  familiar  with  violent  death  in  its  most  ter- 
rible forms.  The  effect  of  Indian  warfare  upon  the 
natures  of  those  who  engage  in  it,  or  are  subjected  to 
its  perils,  is  different  from  that  of  what  we  must 
call  civilized  fighting.  The  end  as  well  as  the  aim  of 
the  Indian's  battle  is  death — a  scalp.  Murder  for  the 
mere  pleasure  of  murdering  has  an  influence  upon  a 
community  far  more  sinister  than  that  of  death  by 
war  waged  for  recognizable  causes.  The  Puritans  of 
the  Eighteenth  Century  were  another  people  than 
those  of  the  Seventeenth.  There  had  been  reason  in 
the  early  Indian  struggles,  when  the  savages  might 
have  hoped  to  exterminate  the  settlers  and  leave 
their  wilderness  a  wilderness  once  more;  but  there 
could  be  no  such  hope  now.  The  desire  for  revenge  was 
awakened  and  fostered  as  it  had  never  been  before. 
Many  other  circumstances  combined  to  modify  the 
character  of  the  people  of  New  England  during  this 
century;  but  perhaps  this  new  capacity  for  revenge 
was  not  the  least  potent  of  the  influences  that  made 
the  seven  years  of  the  Revolution  possible. 

Peter  Schuyler  protested  in  vain  against  the  "savage 
and  boundless  butchery"  into  which  the  conflict  be- 
tween "Christian  princes,  bound  to  the  exactest  laws 
of  honor  and  generosity,"  was  degenerating;  but  the 

280 


FIFTY    YEARS    OF    FOOLS    AND    HEROES 

only  way  to  stop  it  appeared  to  be  to  extirpate  the  per- 
petrators; and  to  that  end  a  fifth  part  of  the  popula- 
tion were  constantly  in  arms.  The  musket  became  more 
familiar  to  their  hands  than  the  plow  and  spade;  and 
their  marksmanship  was  near  perfection.  They  gradu- 
ally developed  a  system  of  tactics  of  their  own,  foreign 
to  the  manuals.  The  first  thing  you  were  aware  of  in 
the  provincial  soldier  was  the  puff  of  smoke  from  the 
muzzle  of  his  weapon ;  almost  simultaneously  came  the 
thud  of  his  bullet  in  your  breast,  or  crashing  through 
your  brain.  He  loaded  his  gun  lying  on  his  back  be- 
neath the  ferns  and  shrubbery;  he  advanced  or  re- 
treated invisibly,  from  tree  to  tree.  Your  only  means 
of  estimating  his  numbers  was  from  your  own  losses. 
It  was  thus  that  the  American  troops  afterward  gained 
their  reputation  of  being  almost  invincible  behind  an 
intrenchment ;  it  gave  its  character  to  the  engagements 
at  Concord  and  along  the  Boston  Road,  and  sent  hun- 
dreds of  redcoats  to  death  on  the  slopes  of  Bunker  Hill. 
'It  was  not  magnificent  to  look  at,  but  it  was  war; 
combined  with  the  European  tactics  acquired  later  on 
it  survived  reverses  that  would  have  driven  other 
troops  from  the  field,  and,  with  Washington  at  the 
head,  won  our  independence  at  last. 

The  least  revolting  feature  of  the  Indian  warfare 
was  the  habit  they  acquired,  through  French  suggestion 
doubtless,  of  taking  large  numbers  of  persons  captive, 
and  carrying  them  north.  If  they  weakened  on  the 
journey,  they  were  of  course  tomahawked  out  of  the 
way  at  once ;  but  if  they  survived,  they  were  either  sold 
as  slaves  to  the  Canadians,  or  were  kept  by  the  Indians, 
who  adopted  them  into  their  tribes,  having  no  system 
of  slavery.  Many  a  woman  and  little  girl  from  New 
England  became  the  mother  of  Indian  children;  and 
when  the  captives  were  young  enough  at  the  beginning, 
they  generally  grew  to  love  the  wild  life  too  well  to 
leave  it.  Indeed,  they  were  generally  treated  well  by 
both  the  Canadians  and  the  Indians  after  they  got  to 
their  destination.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  the 
fathers  and  mothers  and  relatives  of  the  lost  planning 
their  redemption  or  rescue,  and  raising  money  to  buy 

281 


HISTORY   OF   T&E    UNITED    STATES 

them  back.  Many  a  thrilling  tale  could  be  told  of  these 
episodes.  But  we  must  imagine  beautiful  young  women, 
who  had  been  taken  away  in  childhood,  found  after 
years  of  heartbreaking  search  and  asked  to  return  to 
their  homes.  What  was  their  home?  They  had  forgot- 
ten New  England,  and  those  who  loved  them  and  had 
sorrowed  for  them  there.  The  eyes  of  these  young 
women,  clear  and  bright,  had  a  wildness  in  their  look 
that  is  never  seen  in  the  children  of  civilization ;  their 
faces  were  tanned  by  sun  and  breeze,  their  figures  lithe 
and  athletic,  their  dress  of  deerskin  and  wampum, 
their  light  feet  clad  in  moccasins;  their  tongues  and 
ears  were  strange  to  the  language  of  their  childhood 
homes.  No:  they  would  not  return.  Sometimes  curi- 
osity, or  a  vague  expectation,  would  induce  them  to 
revisit  those  who  yearned  for  them;  but,  having  ar- 
rived, they  received  the  embraces  of  their  own  flesh  and 
blood  shyly  and  coldly;  they  were  stifled  and  ham- 
pered by  the  houses,  the  customs,  the  ordered  ways  of 
white  people's  existence.  A  night  must  come  when  they 
would  arise  silently,  resume  with  a  deep  in-breathing 
of  delight  the  deerskin  raiment,  and  be  gone  without 
one  last  loving  look  at  the  faces  of  those  who  had  given 
them  life,  but  from  whom  their  souls  were  forever 
parted.  There  is  a  harrowing  mystery  in  these  estrange- 
ments :  how  strong,  and  yet  how  helpless  is  the  human 
heart;  all  the  world  cannot  break  the  bonds  it  ties,  nor 
can  all  the  world  tie  them  again. 

Thus,  in  more  ways  than  one,  the  blood  of  the  Eng- 
lish colonists  became  wedded  to  the  soil  of  the  wilder- 
ness, if  wilderness  the  settlements  could  now  be  called. 
And  they  became  like  the  captives  we  have  just  been 
imagining,  who  cared  no  longer  for  the  land  and  the 
people  that  had  been  their  home.  Not  more  because 
they  were  estranged  by  England's  behavior  than  be- 
cause they  had  formed  new  attachments  beside  which 
the  old  ones  seemed  pale  were  they  now  able  to  con- 
template with  composure  the  idea  of  a  final  separation. 
America  was  no  longer  England's  daughter.  She  had 
acquired  a  life  of  her  own,  and  could  look  forward  to  a 
destinv  which  the  older  country  could  never  share.  The 

282 


FIFTY    YEARS   OF    FOOLS    AND    HEROES 

ways  of  the  two  had  parted  more  fully  than  either,  as 
yet,  quite  realized. 

Apart  from  the  Indian  episodes,  little  was  done  until 
1710,  when  a  large  fleet  left  Boston  and  again  captured 
Port  Royal,  to  which  the  name  of  Annapolis  was  given 
as  a  compliment  to  the  snuffy  little  woman  who  sat  on 
the  English  tin-one.  This  success  was  made  the  basis 
of  a  proposition  to  put  an  end  to  the  development  of 
the  French  settlements  west  of  the  Alleghenies.  It 
was  represented  to  the  English  Government  that  the 
entire  Indian  population  in  the  West  was  being  amal- 
gamated with  the  French;  the  Jesuits  ensnaring  them 
on  the  spiritual  side,  and  the  intermarrying  system  on 
the  other.  The  English  Secretary  of  State  was  Boliug- 
broke — or  Saint-John  as  he  was  then — a  man  of  three 
and  thirty,  brilliant,  graceful,  gifted,  versatile;  but 
without  principle  or  constancy,  who  never  emancipated 
his  superb  intellect  from  his  restless  and  sensuous  na- 
ture. After  hearing  what  the  American  envoys  had  to 
say,  and  thinking  the  matter  over,  Saint-John  made  up 
his  mind  that  it  could  do  no  harm,  as  a  beginning,  to 
capture  Quebec;  and  that  being  safe  in  English  hands, 
the  rest  of  the  program  could  be  finished  at  leisure. 
Seven  regiments  of  Marlborough's  veterans,  the  best 
soldiers  in  the  world  at  that  time,  a  battalion  of  ma- 
rines, and  fifteen  men  of  war,  were  intrusted  to  the 
utterly  incompetent  and  preposterous  Hovenden 
Walker,  with  the  not  less  absurd  Jack  Hill,  brother  of 
Mrs.  Mashaui,  as  second  in  command.  In  short,  the 
expedition  was  what  would  now  be  called  a  "job"  for 
the  favorites  and  hangers-on  of  the  court;  the  taking 
of  the  Canadian  fortress  was  deemed  so  easy  a  feat  that 
even  fools  and  inerry-andrews  could  accomplish  it. 
The  Americans  had  meantime  made  their  preparations 
to  cooperate  with  this  imposing  armada;  an  army  of 
colonists  and  Iroquois  were  at  Albany,  ready  for  a 
dash  on  Montreal.  But  week  after  week  passed  away, 
and  the  fleet,  having  got  to  Boston,  seemed  unable  to 
get  away  from  it.  No  doubt  WTalker,  Hill,  and  the 
rest  of  the  rabble  were  enjoying  themselves  in  the 
Puritan  capital.  The  Boston  of  stern- visaged,  sad- 

283 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

garmented,  scripture-quoting  men  and  women  of  un- 
paved  streets  and  mean  houses,  was  gone;  Boston  in 
the  first  quarter  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  was  a  city 
— a  place  of  gaj^ety,  fashion,  and  almost  luxury.  The 
scarlet  coats  of  the  British  officers  made  the  narrow 
but  briskly  moving  streets  brilliant;  but  even  without 
them  the  embroidered  coats,  silken  small  clothes  and 
clocked  stockings,  powdered  wigs  and  cocked  hats  of 
the  fine  gentlemen,  and  the  wide  hoops  and  impos- 
ing headdresses  of  the  women,  made  a  handsome  show. 
People  of  many  nationalities  mingled  in  the  throng, 
for  commerce  had  brought  the  world  in  all  its  various 
forms  to  the  home  of  the  prayers  of  Winthrop  and  Hig- 
ginson;  the  royal  governors  maintained  a  fitting  state, 
and  traveled  Americans,  then  as  now,  brought  back 
with  them  from  Europe  the  freshest  ideas  of  modish- 
ness  and  style.  There  were  folk  of  quality  there,  per- 
sonages of  importance  and  dignity,  forming  an  inner 
aristocratic  circle  who  conversed  of  London  and  the 
court,  and  whose  august  society  it  was  the  dear  ambi- 
tion of  the  lesser  lights  to  ape,  if  they  could  not  join  it. 
Democratic  manners  were  at  a  discount  in  these  little 
hotbeds  of  amateur  cockneyisms ;  the  gloomy  severities 
of  the  old-fashioned  religion  were  put  aside ;  there  was 
an  increasing  gap  between  the  higher  and  the  lower 
orders  of  the  population.  This  appearance  was  no 
doubt  superficial;  and  the  beau  monde  is  never  so  nu- 
merous as  its  conspicuousness  leads  one  to  imagine. 
When  the  rumblings  of  the  Revolutionary  earthquake 
began  to  make  themselves  heard  in  earnest,  the  ginger- 
bread aristocracy  came  tumbling  down  in  a  hurry,  and 
the  old,  invincible  spirit,  temporarily  screened  by  the 
waving  of  scented  handkerchiefs,  the  flutter  of  fans, 
and  the  swish  of  hoop  skirts,  made  itself  once  more 
manifest  and  dominant.  But  that  epoch  was  still  far 
off;  for  the  present  court  was  paid  to  Walker  and  his 
officers ;  and  the  British  Coffee  House  in  King  Street 
was  a  noble  sight.  What  bottles  of  wine  those  warriors 
drank,  what  snuff  they  took,  what  long  pipes  they 
smoked,  how  they  swore  and  ruffled,  and  what  tales 
they  told  of  Marlborough  and  the  wars!  The  British 

284 


FIFTY    YEARS    OF    FOOLS    AND    HEROES 

army  swore  frightfully  in  Flanders,  and  in  King  Street, 
too.  There,  also,  they  read  the  news  in  the  newspapers 
of  the  day,  and  discussed  matters  of  high  policy  and 
strategy,  while  the  civilians  listened  with  respectful 
admiration.  And  see  how  that  dapper  young  officer 
seated  in  the  window  arches  his  handsome  eyebrows 
and  smirks  as  two  pretty  Boston  girls  go  by !  Yes,  it  is 
no  wonder  that  the  British  fleet  needed  a  long  time 
to  refit  in  Boston  harbor,  before  going  up  to  annihilate 
those  French.  "La,  Captain,  I  hope  you  won't  get  hurt  I" 
says  pretty  Miss  Betty,  with  her  white  wig  and  her 
beauty  spots;  and  that  heroic  young  gentleman  lifts 
her  hand  to  his  lips,  and  swears  deeply  that,  for  a 
glance  from  her  bright  eyes,  he  would  go  forth  and  cap- 
ture Quebec  single  handed. 

While  these  dalliances  were  in  progress,  the  French 
jumping  jacks  were  putting  things  in  order  to  receive 
their  expected  guests  in  a  becoming  manner.  They  held 
a  great  powwow  of  representatives  of  Indian  tribes 
from  all  parts  of  the  seat  of  the  projected  war,  and 
bound  them  by  compacts  to  their  assistance.  Every- 
body, even  the  women,  worked  on  the  fortifications,  or 
on  anything  that  might  aid  in  the  common  defense.  Be- 
fore the  end  of  August,  at  which  time  the  outlookers 
reported  signs  of  a  fleet  of  near  a  hundred  sail,  flying 
the  British  flag,  all  was  ready  for  them  in  the  French 
strongholds.  So  now  let  the  mighty  combat  begin. 

But  it  was  not  to  come  this  time :  the  era  of  William 
Pitt  and  General  Wolfe  was  nearly  half  a  century  dis- 
tant. The  latter  would  not  be  born  for  sixteen  years, 
and  the  former  was  a  pap-eating  babe  of  three.  Mean- 
while the  redoubtable  Walker  was  snoring  in  bed, 
while  his  fleet  was  struggling  in  a  dense  fog  at  night, 
being  driven  on  the  shoals  of  the  Egg  Islands  near  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  "For  the  Lord's  sake,  come 
on  deck!"  roars  Captain  Goddard,  thrusting  his  head 
into  the  cabin  for  the  second  time,  "or  we  shall  all  be 
lost!"  Thus  adjured,  the  old  imbecile  huddles  on  his 
dressing  gown  and  slippers,  and  finds  himself,  sure 
enough,  close  on  a  lee  shore.  He  made  shift  to  get  his 
own  vessel  out  of  harm's  way,  but  eight  others  went 

285* 


down,  and  near  nine  hundred  men  were  drowned.  "Im- 
possible to  go  on,"  was  the  vote  of  the  council  of  war 
the  next  morning;  and  "It's  all  for  the  best,"  added 
this  remarkable  admiral;  "for  had  we  got  to  Quebec, 
ten  or  twelve  thousand  of  us  must  have  perished  of 
cold  and  hunger." 

So  back  they  went,  with  their  tails  between  their 
legs,  without  having  had  a  glimpse  of  the  citadel  which 
they  were  to  have  captured  without  an  effort;  and  of 
course  the  army  waiting  at  Albany  for  the  word  to  ad- 
vance got  news  of  a  different  color,  and  Montreal  was 
as  safe  as  Quebec.  In  the  west,  the  Foxes,  having 
planned  an  attack  on  Detroit,  did  really  lay  siege  to  it ; 
but  Du  Buisson,  who  defended  it,  summoned  a  swarm 
of  Indian  allies  to  his  aid,  and  the  Foxes  found  that 
the  boot  was  on  the  other  leg ;  they  were  all  either  slain 
or  qarried  into  slavery.  Down  in  the  Carolinas,  a 
party  of  Tuscaroras  attacked  a  settlement  of  Palatines 
near  Pamlico  Sound,  and  wiped  them  out;  and  some 
Huguenots  at  Bath  fared  little  better.  Disputes  be- 
tween the  Governor  and  the  burgesses  prevented  aid 
from  Virginia;  but  Barn  well  of  South  Carolina  suc- 
ceeded in  making  terms  with  the  enemy.  A  desultory 
and  exhausting  warfare  continued  however,  compli- 
cated with  an  outbreak  of  yellow  fever,  and  it  was  not 
until  1713  that  the  Tuscaroras  were  driven  finally  out 
of  the  country,  and  were  incorporated  with  the  Iro- 
quois  in  the  north.  The  war  in  Europe  had  by  that 
time  come  also  to  an  end,  and  the  treaty  of  Utrecht 
brought  about  an  ambiguous  peace  for  a  generation. 

George  I  now  became  King  of  England;  because  he 
was  the  sou  of  Sophia,  granddaughter  of  James  I,  and 
professed  the  Protestant  religion.  He  was  a  Han- 
overian German,  and  did  not  understand  the  English 
language;  he  was  stupid  and  disreputable,  and  better 
fitted  to  administer  a  German  bierstube  than  a  great 
kingdom.  But  the  Act  of  Settlement  of  1701  had  stipu- 
lated that  if  William  or  Anne  died  childless,  the  Pro- 
testant issue  of  Sophia  should  succeed.  That  such  a 
man  should  prove  an  acceptable  sovereign  both  to 
Great  Britain  and  her  American  colonies,  showed  that 

286 


FIFTY    YEAKS    OF    FOOLS    AND    HEROES 

the  individuality  on  the  throne  had  become  secondary 
to  the  principles  which  he  stood  for;  besides,  George 
profited  by  the  easy,  sagacious,  good-humored  leader- 
ship of  that  unprincipled  but  common-sensible  man  of 
the  world.  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  who  except  for  two 
years  was  prime  minister  from  1715  to  1741.  Walpole's 
aim  was  to  avoid  wars  and  develop  commerce  and 
manufactures ;  and  while  he  lived  the  colontes  enjoyed 
immunity  from  conflicts  with  the  French  and  Spanish. 

They  were  not  to  forget  the  use  of  arms,  however; 
for  the  Indians  were  inevitably  encroached  upon  by  the 
expanding  white  population,  and  resented  it  in  the 
usual  way.  In  1715  the  Yamassees  began  a  massacre  on 
the  Carolina  borders;  they  were  driven  off  by  Charles 
Craven,  after  the  colonists  had  lost  four  hundred  men. 
The  proprietors  had  given  no  help  in  the  war,  and  after 
it  was  over  the  colony  renounced  allegiance  to  them, 
and  the  English  Government  supported  their  revolt, 
regarding  it  in  the  light  of  an  act  of  loyalty  to  George. 
Francis  Nicholson,  a  governor  by  profession,  and  of 
great  experience  in  that  calling,  was  appointed  royal 
Governor,  and  made  peace  with  the  tribes ;  and  in  1729 
the  Crown  bought  out  the  claims  of  the  proprietors. 
North  Carolina,  without  a  revolt,  enjoyed  the  benefits 
obtained  by  their  southern  brethren.  The  Cherokees 
became  a  buffer  against  the  encroachments  of  the 
French  from  the  west. 

In  the  north,  meanwhile,  the  Abenakis,  in  sympathy 
with  the  French,  claimed  the  region  between  the  Ken- 
iiebec  and  the  St.  Croix,  and  applied  to  the  French  for 
assistance.  Sebastian  Rasle,  a  saintly  Jesuit  priest 
and  Indian  missionary,  had  made  his  abode  at  Nor- 
ridgewock  on  the  Kenuebec;  he  was  regarded  by  Massa- 
chusetts as  an  instigator  of  the  enemy.  They  seized 
his  post,  he  escaping  for  the  time;  the  Indians  burned 
Brunswick;  but  in  1723  Westbrooke  with  a  company 
of  hardy  provincials,  who  knew  more  of  Indian  war- 
fare than  the  Indians  themselves,  attacked  an  Indian 
fort  near  the  present  Bangor  and  destroyed  it ;  the  next 
year  Norridgewock  was  surprised,  and  Rasle  slain.  He 
met  his  death  with  the  sublime  cheerfulness  and  cour- 

287 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

age  which  were  the  badge  of  his  order.  French  influence 
in  northeastern  Massachusetts  was  at  an  end,  and  John 
Lovewell,  before  he  lost  his  life  by  an  ambush  of  Saco 
Indians  at  Battle  Brook,  had  made  it  necessary  for  the 
Indians  to  sue  for  peace.  Commerce  took  the  place  of 
religion  as  a  subjugating  force,  and  an  era  of  pros- 
perity began  for  the  northeastern  settlements. 

There  was  no  settled  boundary  between  northern 
New  York  and  the  French  regions.  Each  party  used 
diplomatic  devices  to  gain  advantage.  Both  built  trad- 
ing stations  on  doubtful  territory,  which  developed 
into  forts.  Burnet  of  New  York  founded  Oswego  in 
1727,  and  gained  a  strip  of  land  from  the  Iroquois; 
France  built  a  fort  on  Lake  Champlain  in  1731.  Six 
years  before  that  they  had  established,  by  the  agency 
of  the  sagacious  trader  Joncaire,  a  not  less  important 
fort  at  Niagara.  Upon  the  whole  the  French  gained 
the  better  of  their  rivals  in  these  negotiations. 

Louisiana,  as  the  French  possessions,  or  claims, 
south  of  Canada  were  called,  was  meanwhile  bidding 
fair  to  cover  most  of  the  continent  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghenies  and  north  of  the  indeterminate  Spanish  region 
which  overspread  the  present  Texas,  New  Mexico,  Ari- 
zona, California,  and  Mexico.  No  boundary  lines  could 
be  run  in  those  enormous  western  expanses;  and  it 
made  little  practical  difference  whether  a  given  claim 
lay  a  thousand  miles  this  way  or  that.  But  on  the  east 
it  was  another  matter.  The  French  pursued  their  set- 
tled policy  of  conciliating  the  Indians  wherever  they 
hoped  to  establish  themselves;  but  though  this  was 
well,  it  was  not  enough.  Narrow  though  the  English 
strip  of  territory  was,  the  inhabitants  greatly  outnum- 
bered the  French,  and  were  correspondingly  more 
wealthy.  Spotswood  of  Virginia,  in  1710,  was  for  push- 
ing out  beyond  the  mountains,  and  Logan  of  Pennsyl- 
vania also  called  Walpole's  attention  to  the  troubles 
ahead;  but  the  prime  minister  would  take  no  action. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  white  population  of  Louisiana 
was  ridiculously  small,  and  their  trade  nothing  worth 
mentioning;  but  when  Anthony  Crozat  resigned  the 
charter  he  had  received  for  the  district,  it  was  taken 

288 


Arresting  a  Woman  Charged  with  Witchcraft 


"FIFTY    YEARS    OF    FOOLS    AND    HEROES 

up  by  the  famous  John  Law,  who  had  become  chief 
financial  adviser  of  the  Regeut  of  France;  and  immedi- 
ately the  face  of  things  underwent  a  change  like  the 
magic  transformations  of  a  pantomime. 

The  Regent  inherited  from  Louis  XIV  a  debt  which 
there  was  not  money  enough  in  all  France  to  pay.  Law 
had  a  plan  to  pay  it  by  the  issue  of  paper.  Louisiana 
otfered  itself  as  just  the  thing  for  purposes  of  invest- 
ment, and  a  pretext  for  the  issue  of  unlimited  "shares." 
Not  to  speak  of  the  gold  and  silver,  there  was  unlimited 
wealth  in  the  unknown  country,  and  Law  assumed  that 
it  could  be  produced  at  once.  Companies  were  formed, 
and  thousands  of  settlers  rushed  to  the  promised  para- 
dise. But  we  have  to  do  with  the  Mississippi  Bubble 
only  as  it  affected  America.  The  Bubble  burst,  but  the 
settlers  remained,  and  were  able  to  prosper,  in  modera- 
tion, like  other  settlers  in  a  fertile  country.  A  great 
area  of  land  was  occupied.  Local  tribes  of  Indians 
joined  in  a  massacre  of  the  colonists  in  1729.  They 
in  turn  were  nearly  exterminated  by  the  French  forces 
during  the  next  two  years,  but  the  war  aroused  a  new 
hostility  among  the  red  tribes  against  the  French, 
which  redounded  to  the  English  advantage.  In  1740, 
Bienville  was,  more  than  willing  to  make  a  peace,  which 
left  to  France  no  more  than  nominal  control  of  the 
tract  of  country  drained  by  the  southern  twelve  hun- 
dred miles  of  the  Mississippi.  The  population,  after 
all  the  expense  and  efforts  of  half  a  century,  numbered 
about  five  thousand  white  persons,  with  upward  of  two 
thousand  slaves.  The  horse  is  his  who  rides  it.  The 
French  had  not  proved  themselves  as  good  horsemen 
as  the  English.  The  English  colonies  had  at  the  same 
time  a  population  of  about  half  a  million;  their  im- 
port and  export  trade  aggregated  nearly  four  million 
dollars ;  they  had  a  wide  and  profitable  trade ;  and  the 
only  thing  they  could  complain  of  was  the  worthless 
or  infamous  character  of  the  majority  of  the  officials 
which  the  shameless  corruption  of  the  Walpole  admin- 
istration sent  out  to  govern — in  other  words,  to  prey 
upon — them.  But  if  this  was  the  only  subject  of  com- 
plaint, it  could  not  be  termed  a  small  subject.  It 

U.S.— 10    VOL.  I  289 


HISTOKY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

meant  the  enforcement  of  the  Navigation  Acts  in  their 
worst  form,  and  the  restriction  of  all  manner  of  manu- 
factures. Manufactures  would  tend  to  make  the  colo- 
nies set  up  for  themselves,  and  therefore  they  must  be 
forbidden — such  was  the  undisguised  argument.  It 
was  a  case  of  the  goose  laying  golden  eggs.  America 
had  in  fact  become  so  enormously  valuable  that  Eng- 
land wanted  it  to  become  profit  and  nothing  else — and 
all  the  profit  to  be  England's.  They  still  failed  to  re- 
alize that  it  was  inhabited  by  human  beings,  and  that 
those  human  beings  were  of  English  blood.  And  be- 
cause the  northern  colonies,  though  the  more  indus- 
trious, produced  things  which  might  interfere  with 
British  goods,  therefore  they  were  held  down  more 
than  the  southern  colonies,  which  grew  only  tobacco, 
sugar,  rice,  and  indigo,  which  could  in  no  degree  in- 
terfere with  the  sacred  shopkeepers  and  mill  owners 
of  England.  An  insanity  of  blindness  and  perversity 
seized  upon  the  English  Government,  and  upon  most 
of  the  people;  they  actually  were  incapable  of  seeing 
justice.  It  seems  strange  to  us  now;  but  it  was  a 
mania,  like  that  of  witchcraft,  though  it  lasted  thrice 
as  many  years  as  that  did  months. 

The  will  of  England  in  respect  of  the  colonies  became 
as  despotic  as  under  the  Stuarts ;  but  though  it  delayed 
progress,  it  could  not  break  down  the  resistance  of  the 
assemblies;  and  Walpole  would  consent  to  no  sug- 
gestion looking  toward  enforcing  it  by  arms.  Stamp 
duties  were  spoken  of,  but  not  enacted.  The  Governors 
raged  and  complained,  but  the  assemblies  held  the 
purse  strings.  Would-be  tyrants  like  Shute  of  Boston 
might  denounce  woe,  and  Crosby  of  New  York  bellow 
treason,  but  they  were  fain  to  succumb.  Paper  money 
wrought  huge  mischief,  but  nothing  could  prevent  the 
growing  power  and  wealth  of  the  colonies,  fed,  also, 
by  the  troubles  in  Europe.  In  1727  the  Irish,  always 
friends  of  liberty,  began  to  arrive  in  large  numbers. 
But  what  was  of  better  augury  than  all  else  was  the 
birth  of  two  men,  one  in  Virginia,  the  other  in  Boston. 
The  latter  was  named  Benjamin  Franklin:  the  former 
George  Washington. 

290 


CHAPTER  XI 

QUEM    JUE'ITER    VULT   PERDERB 

THERE  are  times  wheu,  upon  nations  as  upon 
individuals,  there  comes  a  wave  of  evil  tendency, 
which  seems  to  them  not  evil,  but  good.  Under 
its  influence  they  do  and  think  things  which  afterward 
amaze  them  in  the  retrospect.  But  such  ill  seasons  are 
always  balanced  by  the  presence  and  opposition  of  those 
who  desire  good,  whether  from  selfish  or  altruistic  mo- 
tives. And  since  good  alone  has  a  root,  connecting  it 
with  the  eternal  springs  of  life,  therefore  in  the  end  it 
prevails,  and  the  movement  of  the  race  is  on  the  whole, 
and  in  the  lapse  of  time,  toward  better  conditions. 

England,  during  the  Eighteenth  Century,  came  under 
the  influence  of  a  selfish  spirit  which  could  not  but  lead 
her  toward  disaster,  though  at  the  time  it  seemed  as  if 
it  promoted  only  prosperity  and  power.  She  thought 
she  could  strengthen  her  own  life  by  restricting  the 
natural  enterprise  and  development  of  her  colonies: 
that  she  could  subsist  by  sucking  human  blood.  She 
believed  that  by  compelling  the  produce  of  America  to 
flow  toward  herself  alone,  and  by  making  America  the 
sole  recipient  of  her  own  manufactures,  she  must  be 
immeasurably  and  continually  benefited;  not  perceiv- 
ing that  the  colonies  could  never  reach  the  full  limit 
of  their  productiveness  unless  freedom  were  conceded 
to  all  the  impulses  of  their  energy,  or  that  the  greater 
the  number  of  those  nations  who  were  allowed  freely 
to  supply  colonial  wants  the  greater  those  wants  would 
become.  Moreover,  selfishness  is  never  consistent,  be- 
cause it  does  not  respect  the  selfishness  of  others ;  and 
England,  at  the  same  time  that  she  was  maintaining 
her  own  trade  monopolies,  was  illicitly  undermining 
the  similar  monopolies  of  other  nations.  She  promoted 
smuggling  in  the  Spanish  West  Indies,  and  made  might 

291 


HISTOEY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

right  in  all  her  dealings  with  foreign  peoples.  The 
assiento — the  treaty  giving  her  exclusive  right  to  supply 
the  West  Indian  islands  with  African  slaves — was  ac- 
tively carried  out,  and  the  slave  trade  reached  enor- 
mous proportions;  it  is  estimated  that  from  three  to 
nine  millions  of  Africans  were  imported  into  the 
American  and  Spanish  colonies  during  the  first  half 
o^  the  Eighteenth  Century,  yielding  a  revenue  for  their 
importation  alone  of  at  least  four  hundred  million 
dollars.  But  the  profit  did  not  end  there;  for  their 
labor  on  the  plantations  in  the  southern  colonies 
(where  alone  they,  could  be  used  in  appreciable  num- 
bers) multiplied  the  production  and  diminished  the  cost 
of  the  articles  of  commerce  which  those  colonies  raised. 
There  were  individuals,  almost  from  the  beginning,  who 
objected  to  slavery  on  grounds  of  abstract  morality; 
and  others  who  held  that  a  converted  African  should 
cease  to  be  a  slave.  But  these  opinions  did  not  impress 
the  bulk  of  the  people;  and  laws  were  passed  classing 
negroes  with  merchandise.  "The  trade  is  very  bene- 
ficial to  the  country"  was  the  stereotyped  reply  to  all 
humanitarian  arguments.  The  cruelties  of  transpor- 
tation in  small  vessels  were  regarded  as  an  unavoida- 
ble, if  disagreeable,  necessity;  it  was  pointed  out  that 
the  masters  of  slaves  would  be  prompted  by  self-inter- 
est to  treat  them  well  after  they  were  landed;  and  it 
was  obvious  that  negroes,  after  a  generation  of  captiv- 
ity, were  less  remote  from  civilization  than  when  fresh 
from  Africa. 

The  good  to  balance  this  ill  was  supplied  by  the 
American  colonies.  Their  resistance  to  English  selfish- 
ness may  have  been  in  part  animated  by  selfishness 
of  their  own ;  but  it  none  the  less  had  justice  and  right 
behind  it.  In  any7  argument  on  fundamental  principles, 
the  colonists  always  had  the  better  of  it.  Their  rights 
as  free  men  and  as  chartered  communities  were  in- 
defeasible, were  always  asserted,  and  never  given  up. 
They  did  not  hesitate  to  disregard  the  more  unjust  of 
England's  exactions  and  restrictions;  it  was  only  by 
such  defiance  that  they  maintained  their  life.  And 
against  the  importation  of  slaves  there  was  a  general 

292 


QUEM  JUPITER  VULT  PERDERE 

feeling,  eveii  among  the  southern  planters;  because,  not 
to~  speak  of  other  considerations,  they  multiplied  there 
to  an  alarming  extent,  and  the  fact  that  they  cheapened 
production  and  lowered  prices  was  manifestly  as  un- 
welcome to  the  planters  as  it  was  favorable  to  Eng- 
lish traders. 

But  in  order  to  be  effective,  the  protest  of  a  people — 
their  enlightenment,  their  virtue  and  patriotism,  their 
courage  and  philosophy,  their  firmness  and  self-reli- 
ance, their  hatred  of  shams,  dishonesty,  and  tyranny- 
must  be  embodied  and  summed  up  in  certain  individu- 
als among  them,  who  may  thus  be  recognized  by  the 
community  as  their  representatives  in  the  fullest  sense, 
and  therefore  as  their  natural  champions  and  leaders. 
America  has  never  lacked  such  men,  adapted  to  her 
need ;  and  at  this  period  they  were  coming  to  maturity 
as  Franklin  and  Washington.  They  will  be  with  us 
during  the  critical  hours  of  our  formative  history,  and 
we  shall  have  opportunity  to  measure  their  characters. 
Meanwhile  there  is  another  good  man  deserving  of  pass- 
ing attention;  not  born  on  our  soil,  but  meriting  to 
be  called,  in  the  best  sense,  an  American.  In  the  midst 
of  a  corrupt  and  self-seeking  age,  he  was  unselfish  and 
pure;  and  while  many  uttered  pretty  sentiments  of 
philanthropy,  and  devised  fanciful  Utopias  for  the 
transfiguration  of  the  human  race,  he  went  to  work 
with  his  hands  and  purse  as  well  as  with  his  heart  and 
head,  and  created  a  home  and  happiness  for  unhappy 
and  unfortunate  people  in  one  of  the  loveliest  and  most 
fertile  spots  in  the  western  world.  If  he  was  not  as 
wise  as  Penn,  he  was  as  kind ;  and  if  his  colony  did  not 
succeed  precisely  as  he  had  planned  it  should,  at  any 
rate  it  became  a  happy  and  prosperous  settlement, 
which  would  not  have  existed  but  for  him.  He  had  not 
fully  fathomed  the  truth  that  in  order  to  bestow  upon 
man  the  best  chance  for  earthly  felicity  we  must,  after 
having  provided  him  with  the  environment  and  the 
means  for  it,  let  him  alone  to  work  it  out  in  his  own 
way.  But  he  had  such  magnanimity  that,  when  he 
found  that  his  carefully  arranged  and  detailed 
schemes  were  inefficient,  he  showed  no  resentment,  and 

293 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

did  not  try  to  enforce  what  had  seemed  to  him  expedi- 
ent, against  the  wishes  of  his  beneficiaries ;  but  retired 
amiably  and  with  dignity,  and  thus  merited  the  purest 
gratitude  that  men  may  properly  accord  to  a  man. 

James  Edward  Oglethorpe  was  already  five  years  old 
when  the  Eighteenth  Century  began.  He  was  a  Lon- 
doner by  birth,  and  had  a  fortune  which  he  did  not  mis- 
use. He  was  a  valiant  soldier  against  the  Turks;  he 
was  present  with  Prince  Eugene  at  the  capitulation  of 
Belgrade;  and  he  sat  for  more  than  thirty  years  in 
Parliament.  He  died  at  the  age  of  ninety ;  though  there 
is  a  portrait  of  him  extant  said  to  have  been  taken 
when  he  was  one  hundred  and  two.  If  long  life  be  the 
reward  of  virtue,  he  deserved  to  survive  at  least  a 
century. 

The  speculative  fever  in  England  had  brought  about 
much  poverty;  and  debtors  were  lodged  in  jail  in  order, 
one  might  suppose,  to  prevent  them  from  taking  any 
measures  to  liquidate  their  debts.  Besides  these  un- 
happy persons  there  were  many  Protestants  on  the 
continent  who  were  persecuted  for  their  faith's  sake. 
England  compassionated  these  persons,  having  learned 
by  experience  what  persecution  is;  and  did  not  offer 
any  objection  to  a  scheme  for  improving  the  lot  of 
debtors  in  her  own  land,  if  any  feasible  one  could  be 
devised. 

General  Oglethorpe  had  devised  one.  He  was  then, 
according  to  our  reckoning,  a  mature  man  of  about 
seven-and-thirty ;  he  had  visited  the  prisons,  and  con- 
vinced himself  that  there  was  neither  political  economy 
nor  humanity  in  this  method  of  preserving  the  im- 
pecunious class.  Why  not  take  them  to  America  ?  Why 
not  found  a  new  colony  there  where  men  might  dwell 
in  peace  and  comfort,  with  the  aim  not  of  amassing 
wealth,  but  of  living  sober  and  useful  lives?  On  the 
southern  side  of  South  Carolina  there  was  a  region 
fitted  for  such  an  enterprise,  which,  owing  to  its  prox- 
imity to  the  Spanish  colony  at  St.  Augustine,  had  been 
vexed  by  border  quarrels;  but  Oglethorpe,  with  his 
military  experience,  would  be  able  to  keep  the  Span- 
iards in  their  place  with  one  hand,  while  he  was  plaut- 

294 


QUEM  JUPITER  VULT  PERDEKE 

ing  gardens  for  his  protege's  with  the  other.  Thus  his 
colony  would  be  useful  on  grounds  of  high  policy,  as 
well  as  for  its  own  ends.  And  in  order  additionally  to 
conciliate  the  good  will  of  the  home  government,  con- 
trolled as  it  was  by  mercantile  interests  chiefly,  the  silk- 
worm should  be  cultivated  there,  and  England  thus 
saved  the  duties  on  the  Italian  fabrics.  Should  there 
be  slaves  in  the  new  Eden  ?  On  all  accounts,  No :  first 
because  slavery  was  intrinsically  wrong,  and  secondly 
because  it  would  lead  to  idleness,  if  not  to  wealth, 
among  the  colonists.  For  the  same  reason,  land  could 
only  pass  to  the  eldest  son,  or  failing  male  issue,  back 
to  the  state;  if  permission  were  given  to  divide  it,  or 
to  sell  it,  there  would  soon  be  great  landed  properties 
and  an  aristocracy.  Nor  should  the  importation  of  rum 
be  permitted,  for  if  men  have  rum,  they  are  prone  to 
drink  it,  and  drunkenness  was  incompatible  with  the 
kind  of  existence  which  the  good  general  wished  his 
colonists  to  lead.  In  a  word,  by  removing  temptations 
to  vice  and  avarice,  he  thought  lie  could  make  his  people 
forget  that  such  evils  had  ever  belonged  to  human  na- 
ture. But  experiments  founded  upon  the  innate  im- 
peccability of  man  have  furnished  many  comedies  and 
not  a  few  tragedies  since  the  world  began. 

The  Oglethorpe  idea,  however,  appealed  to  the  public, 
and  became  a  sort  of  fashionable  fad.  It  was  com- 
mended, and  after  Parliament  had  voted  ten  thousand 
pounds  toward  it,  it  was  everywhere  accepted  as  the 
correct  thing.  The  charter  was  given  in  June,  1732,  and 
a  suitable  design  was  not  wanting  for  the  corporation 
seal — silkworms,  with  the  motto,  Non  sibi,  sed  aliis. 
This  might  refer  either  to  the  colonists  or  to  the  pa- 
trons, since  the  latter  were  to  receive  no  emoluments 
for  their  services,  and  the  former  were  to  work  for  the 
sake,  in  part  at  least,  of  vindicating  the  nobility  of 
labor.  It  is  true  that  the  silkworm  is  an  involuntary 
and  unconscious  altruist;  but  we  must  allow  some  lati- 
tude in  symbols;  and  besides  all  executive  and  legisla- 
tive power  was  given  to  the  trustees,  or  such  council 
as  they  might  choose  to  appoint. 

In  November  the  general  conducted  his  hundred  or 

295 


HISTORY   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES 

more  human  derelicts  to  Port  Royal,  and,  going  up  the 
stream,  chose  the  site  for  his  city  of  Savannah,  and  laid 
it  out  in  liberal  parallelograms.  While  it  was  building 
he  tented  beneath  a  quartette  of  primeval  pines,  and 
exchanged  friendly  greetings  and  promises  with  the 
various  Indian  tribes  who  sent  deputies  to  him.  A 
year  from  that  time  the  German  Protestant  refugees 
began  to  arrive,  and  started  a  town  of  their  own  further 
inland.  A  party  of  Moravians  followed;  and  the  two 
Wesleys  aided  to  introduce  an  exalted  religious  senti- 
ment which  might  have  recalled  the  days  of  the  Pil- 
grims. For  the  present  all  went  harmoniously:  the 
debtors  were  thankful  to  be  out  of  prison ;  the  religious 
folk  were  happy  so  long  as  they  might  wreak  themselves 
on  their  religion ;  and  the  silk  culture  paid  a  revenue  so 
long  as  England  paid  bounties  on  it.  But  the  time  must 
come  when  the  colonists  would  demand  to  do  what  they 
liked  with  their  own  land  and  other  things ;  when  they 
would  import  rum  by  stealth  and  hardly  blush  to  be 
found  out ;  when  some  of  the  less  democratically  minded 
decided  that  there  were  advantages  in  slaves  after  all ; 
and  when  some  of  the  more  independent  declared  they 
could  not  endure  oppression,  and  migrated  to  other 
colonies.  After  struggling  a  score  of  years  against  the 
inevitable,  the  trustees  surrendered  their  trusteeship, 
and  the  colony  came  under  the  management  of  the 
second  George.  Oglethorpe  had  long  ere  this  retired 
to  England,  after  having  kept  his  promise  of  reducing 
the  Spaniards  to  order;  and  at  his  home  at  Cranham 
Hall  in  Essex  he  continued  to  be  the  friend  of  man  until 
after  the  close  of  the  American  Revolution. 

The  war  with  Spain,  of  which  Oglethorpe's  unsuc- 
cessful attack  upon  St.  Augustine  and  triumphant  de- 
fense of  his  own  place  was  but  a  very  minor  feature, 
raged  for  a  while  in  the  West  Indies  with  no  very 
marked  advantage  to  either  contestant,  and  then  drew 
the  other  nations  of  Europe  into  the  fray.  Nothing 
creditable  was  being  fought  for  on  either  side.  Eng- 
land, to  be  sure,  had  declared  war  with  the  object  of 
expunging  Spain  from  America;  but  it  had  been  only 
in  order  that  she  herself  might  replace  Spain  there  as 

296 


QUEM  JUPITER  VULT  PERDERE 

I 

a  monopolist.  France  came  in  to  prevent  England  from 
enjoying  this  monopoly.  The  death  of  the  Austrian 
King  and  a  consequent  dispute  as  to  the  succession 
added  that  power  to  the  mel£e.  Russia  received  an  in- 
vitation to  join,  and  this  finally  led  to  the  Peace  of  Aix- 
la-Chapelle  in  1748,  which  replaced  all  things  in 
dispute  just  where  they  were  before  innumerable  lives 
and  enormous  treasure  had  been  expended.  But  the 
Eighteenth  was  a  fighting  Century,  for  it  was  the  tran- 
sition period  from  the  old  to  the  new  order  of  civilized 
life. 

The  part  borne  by  the  American  colonies  in  this 
struggle  was  quite  subordinate  and  sympathetic;  but 
it  was  not  the  less  interesting  to  the  Americans.  In 
1744  the  Six  Nations  (as  the  Five  had  been  called  since 
the  accession  of  the  Tuscaroras)  made  a  treaty  of  al- 
liance with  the  English  whereby  the  Ohio  valley  was 
secured  to  the  latter  as  against  the  French — so  far, 
that  is,  as  the  Indians  could  secure  it.  But  the  Penn- 
sylvanians  understood  that  more  than  Indian  treaties 
would  be  needed  against  France,  and  as  their  country 
was  likely  to  be  among  the  first  involved,  they  deter- 
mined to  raise  money  and  men  for  the  campaign.  There 
were,  of  course,  men  in  Pennsylvania  who  were  not  of 
the  Quaker  way  of  thinking;  but  even  the  Quakers  for- 
bore to  oppose  the  measure,  and  many  of  them  gave  it 
explicit  approval.  The  incident  gains  its  chief  interest 
however  from  the  fact  that  the  man  most  active  and 
efficient  in  getting  both  the  funds  and  the  soldiers  was 
Benjamin  Franklin,  the  Boston  boy,  in  whose  veins 
flowed  the  blood  of  both  Quaker  and  Calvinist,  but  who 
was  himself  of  far  too  original  a  character  to  be  either. 
He  was  at  this  epoch  just  past  forty,  and  had  been  a 
resident  of  Philadelphia  for  some  twenty  years,  and 
a  famous  printer,  writer,  and  man  of  mark.  He  hit 
upon  the  scheme — which,  like  so  many  of  his,  was 
more  practical  than  orthodox — of  persuading  dollars 
out  of  men's  pockets  by  means  of  a  lottery.  He  knew 
that,  whatever  a  fastidious  morality  might  protest, 
lotteries  are  friendly  to  human  nature ;  and  if  there  be 
any  part  of  human  nature  with  which  Franklin  was 

297 


HISTOKY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

unacquainted,  it  has'not  yet  been  announced.  Having 
got  the  money,  his  next  care  was  for  the  men ;  and  his 
plans  resulted  in  assembling  an  organized  force  of  ten 
or  twelve  thousand  militiamen.  But  the  energy  and  in- 
genuity of  this  incomparable  Franklin  of  ours  could 
be  equaled  only  by  his  modesty ;  he  would  not  accept  a 
colonelcy,  but  shouldered  his  musket  along  with  the 
rank  and  file;  and  doubtless  the  company  to  which  he 
belonged  forgot  the  labors  of  war  in  their  enjoyment 
of  his  wit,  humor,  anecdotes,  parables,  and  resources 
of  all  kinds. 

After  so  much  waste  and  folly  as  had  marked  the  con- 
duct of  the  war  in  Europe,  it  is  good  to  hear  the  tale 
of  the  capture  of  Louisburg.  It  was  an  adventure  which 
gave  the  colonists  merited  confidence  in  themselves, 
and  the  character  of  the  little  army,  and  the  manage- 
ment of  the  campaign,  were  an  excellent  and  suggestive 
dress  rehearsal  of  the  great  drama  of  thirty  years  later. 
The  army  was  a  combination  of  Yankees  with  arms  in 
their  hands  to  effect  an  object  eminently  conducive  to 
the  common  welfare.  For  Louisburg  was  the  key  to  the 
St.  Lawrence,  it  commanded  the  fisheries,  and  it 
threatened  Acadia,  or  rather  Nova  Scotia,  which  was 
inhabited  chiefly  by  Bretons,  liable  to  afford  succor  to 
their  belligerent  brethren.  The  fort  had  been  built, 
after  the  close  of  the  former  war,  by  those  who  had 
preferred  not  to  live  under  the  Government  of  the 
House  of  Hanover,  on  the  eastern  extremity  of  the 
island  called  Cape  Breton,  itself  lying  northeast  of  the 
Nova  Scotian  promontory.  The  site  was  good  for  de- 
fense, and  the  fortifications,  scientifically  designed, 
were  held  to  be  impregnable.  Had  Louisburg  rested 
content  with  being  strong,  it  might  have  been  allowed 
to  remain  at  peace;  but  at  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
and  before  the  frontier  people  in  Nova  Scotia  had  heard 
of  it,  a  French  party  swooped  down  from  Louisburg  on 
the  settlement  at  Canso  (the  gut  between  Cape  Breton 
and  Nova  Scotia),  destroyed  all  that  was  destructible, 
and  carried  eighty  men  as  prisoners  of  war  to  their 
stronghold.  After  keeping  them  there  during  the  sum- 
mer, these  men  were  paroled  and  went  to  Boston.  This 

298 


QUEM  JUPITER  VULT  PERDERE 

was  a  mistake  on  the  Louisburgers'  part;  for  the  men 
had  made  themselves  well  acquainted  with  the  fortifi- 
cations and  the  topography  of  the  neighborhood,  and 
placed  this  useful  information  at  the  disposal  of  Wil- 
liam Shirley,  a  lawyer  of  ability,  who  was  afterward 
Governor  of  the  colony,  and  a  warrior  of  some  note. 
It  was  Shirley's  opinion  that  Louisburg  must  be  taken, 
and  the  idea  immediately  became  popular.  It  was  the 
main  topic  of  discussion  in  Boston  and  all  over  New 
England  during  the  autumn  and  winter;  Massachusetts 
decided  that  it  could  be  done,  and  that  she  could  do  it, 
though  the  help  of  other  colonies  would  be  gladly  ac- 
cepted. Yet  the  feeling  was  not  unanimous,  if  the  vote 
of  the  Legislature  be  a  criterion ;  the  bill  passed  there 
by  a  majority  of  one.  Be  that  as  it  may,  once  resolved 
upon,  the  enterprise  was  pushed  with  ardor,  not  un- 
mingled  with  prayer — the  old  Puritan  leaven  reap- 
1  tearing  as  soon  as  deeds  of  real  moment  were  in  the 
wind. 

In  every  village  and  hamlet  there  was  excitement 
and  preparation — the  warm  courage  of  men  glad  to 
have  a  chance  at  the  hated  fortress,  and  the  pale 
bravery  of  women  keeping  down  the  heavy  throbbing 
of  their  hearts  so  that  their  sons  and  husbands  might 
feel  no  weakness  for  their  sakes.  The  fishermen  of 
Marblehead,  used  to  face  the  storms  and  fogs  of  the 
Newfoundland  Banks;  the  farmers  and  mechanics,  who 
could  hit  a  Bay  shilling  (if  one  could  be  found  in  that 
era  of  paper  money)  at  fifty  paces;  and  the  hunters, 
who  knew  the  craft  of  the  Indians  and  were  inured  to 
every  fatigue  and  hardship — finer  material  for  an 
army  was  never  got  together  before :  independent,  bold, 
cunning,  handy,  inventive,  full  of  resource ;  but  utterly 
ignorant  of  drill,  and  indifferent  to  it.  Their  officers 
were  chosen  by  themselves,  of  the  same  rank  and  char- 
acter as  they ;  their  only  uniforms  were  their  flintlocks 
and  hangers.  They  marched  and  camped  as  nature 
prompted,  but  they  had  common  sense  developed  to  the 
utmost  by  the  exigencies  of  their  daily  lives,  and  they 
created,  simply  by  being  together,  a  discipline  and  tac- 
tics of  their  own ;  they  even  learned  enough  of  the  arts 

299 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

of  fortification  and  intrench ment,  during  the  siege,  to 
serve  all  their  requirements.  They  had  the  American 
instinct  to  break  loose  from  tradition  and  solve  prob- 
lems from  an  original  point  of  view;  they  laughed  at 
the  jargon  and  technicalities  of  conventional  war,  but 
they  had  their  own  passwords,  and  they  understood 
one  another  in  and  out.  The  carpenters  and  other  me- 
chanics  among  them  carried  their  skill  along,  and  were 
ever  ready  to  put  it  in  practice  for  the  general  behoof. 
Most  of  them  left  wives  and  children  at  home;  but 
"Suffer  no  anxious  thoughts  to  rest  in  your  mind  about 
me/'  writes  his  wife  to  Seth  Pomeroy,  who  had  sent 
word  to  her  that  he  was  "willing  to  stay  till  God's  time 
comes  to  deliver  the  city  into  our  hands" : — "I  leave 
you  in  the  hands  of  God,"  added  she;  and  subjoined, 
by  way  of  village  gossip,  that  "the  whole  town  is  much 
engaged  with  concern  for  the  expedition,  how  Provi- 
dence will  order  the  affair,  for  which  religious  meetings 
every  week  are  maintained."  We  can  imagine  those 
meetings,  held  in  the  village  meetinghouse,  with  an 
infirm  old  veteran  of  King  William's  War  to  lead  in 
prayer,  and  the  benches  occupied  by  the  women,  de- 
vout but  spirited,  with  the  little  children  by  their 
sides.  What  hearty  prayers;  what  sighs  irrepressibly 
heaving  those  brave,  tender  bosoms ;  what  secret  tears, 
denied  by  smiles  when  the  face  was  lifted  from  the 
clasping  hands!  Righteous  prayers  which  were  ful- 
filled. 

Over  three  thousand  men  went  from  Massachusetts 
alone;  New  Hampshire  added  five  hundred,  and  more 
than  that  number  arrived  from  Connecticut,  after  the 
rest  had  gone  into  camp  at  Canso.  The  three  hundred 
from  little  Rhode  Island  came  too  late.  Other  colonies 
sent  rations  and  money.  But  the  four  thousand  were 
enough  with  Pepperel  of  Kittery  for  commander,  and 
a  good  cause.  They  set  out  alone  while  the  Cape  Bre- 
ton ice  still  filled  the  harbors ;  for  Commodore  Warren 
of  the  English  fleet  at  Antigua  would  not  go  except  by 
order  from  England — which,  however,  came  soon  after- 
ward, so  that  he  and  his  ships  joined  them  after  all  be- 
fore hostilities  began.  The  expedition  first  set  eyes  on 

300 


QUEM  JUPITER  VULT  PERDERE 

their  objective  point  on  the  day  before  May  day,  1745. 
The  fortrees  bristled  with  guns  of  all  sizes,  and  the 
walls  were  of  enormous  thickness,  so  that  no  cannon 
belonging  to  the  besiegers  could  hope  to  make  a  breach 
in  them.  But  the  hearts  of  the  garrison  were  less  stout 
than  their  defenses;  and  when  four  hundred  cheering 
volunteers  approached  a  battery  on  shore,  the  French- 
men spiked  their  guns  and  ran  away. 

The  siege  lasted  six  weeks,  with  unusually  fine 
weather.  In  the  intervals  of  attacks  upon  the  island 
battery,  which  resisted  them,  the  men  hunted,  fished, 
played  rough  outdoor  games,  and  kept  up  their  spirits ; 
and  they  pounded  Louisburg  gates  with  their  guns; 
but  no  advantage  was  gained;  and  a  night  attack,  in 
the  Indian  style,  was  discovered  prematurely,  and 
nearly  two  hundred  men  were  killed  or  captured. 
Finally  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  for  it  but  to  esca- 
lade the  walls,  Warren — who  had  done  nothing  thus 
far  except  prevent  relief  from  approaching  by  sea — 
bombarding  the  city  meanwhile.  It  hardly  seems  pos- 
sible the  attempt  could  have  succeeded;  at  best,  the 
losses  would  have  been  enormous.  But  at  the  critical 
moment,  depressed  perhaps  by  having  witnessed  the 
taking  of  an  incautious  French  frigate  which  had  tried 
to  run  the  blockade,  what  should  the  French  com- 
mander do  but  hang  out  a  white  flag!  Yes,  the  place 
had  capitulated!  The  gates  that  could  not  be  ham- 
mered in  with  cannon  balls  were  thrown  open,  and 
in  crowded  the  Yankee  army,  laughing,  staring,  and 
thanking  the  Lord  of  Hosts  for  His  mercies.  Truly, 
it  was  like  David  overcoming  Goliath  without  his  sling. 
It  was  a  great  day  for  New  England ;  and  on  the  same 
day  thirty  years  later  the  British  redcoats  fell  beneath 
the  volleys  on  Bunker  Hill. 

The  French  tried  to  recapture  the  place  next  year, 
but  storms,  pestilence,  and  other  disasters  prevented; 
and  the  only  other  notable  incident  of  the  war  was  the 
affair  of  Commander  Knowles  at  Boston  in  1747.  He 
was  anchored  off  Nantasket  with  a  squadron,  when 
some  of  his  tars  deserted,  as  was  not  surprising,  con- 
sidering the  sort  of  commander  he  was  and  the  charms 

301 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

of  the  famous  town.  Knowles,  ignorant  of  the  spirit 
of  a  Boston  mob,  impressed  a  number  of  wharfmen  and 
seamen  from  vessels  in  the  harbor;  he  had  done  the 
same  thing  before  in  England,  and  why  not  here?  But 
the  mob  was  on  fire  at  once,  and  after  the  timid  Gov- 
ernor had  declined  to  seize  such  of  the  British  naval 
officers  as  were  in  the  town,  the  crowd,  terrible  in  its 
anger,  came  thundering  down  King  Street  and  played 
the"  sheriff  for  itself.  The  hair  of  his  Majesty's  haughty 
commanders  and  lieutenants  must  have  crisped  under 
their  wigs  when  they  looked  out  of  the  windows  of  the 
Coffee  House  and  saw  them.  In  walks  the  citizens' 
deputation  with  scant  ceremony;  protests  are  unavail- 
ing; off  to  jail  his  Majesty's  officers  must  straightway 
march,  leaving  their  bottles  of  wine  half  emptied  and 
their  chairs  upset  on  the  sawdusted  floor;  and  in  jail 
must  they  abide  until  those  impressed  Bostonians  have 
been  liberated.  It  was  a  wholesome  lesson ;  and  among 
the  children  who  ran  and  shouted  beside  the  proces- 
sion to  the  prison  were  those  who,  when  they  were  men 
grown,  threw  the  tea  into  Boston  Harbor. 

In  1748  the  peace  was  made,  and  the  Duke  of  New- 
castle, a  flighty,  trivial,  and  faithless  creature,  gave 
place  to  the  strict,  honest,  and  narrow  Duke  of  Bedford 
as  secretary  of  the  colonies.  The  colonies  had  been 
under  the  charge  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners,  who 
could  issue  what  orders  they  chose,  but  had  no  power 
to  enforce  them ;  and  as  the  colonial  assemblies  slighted 
their  commands  except  when  it  pleased  them  to  do 
otherwise,  much  exasperation  ensued  on  the  commis- 
sioners' part.  The  difficulties  would  have  been  mini- 
mized had  it  not  been  the  habit  of  Newcastle  to  send 
out  as  colonial  officials  the  offscourings  of  the  British 
aristocracy;  and  when  a  British  aristocrat  is  worth- 
less, nothing  can  be  more  worthless  than  he.  The  up- 
shot of  the  situation  was  that  the  colonists  did  what 
they  pleased,  regardless  of  orders  from  home;  while 
yet  the  promulgation  of  those  orders,  aiming  to  defend 
injustices  and  iniquities,  kept  up  a  chronic  and  grow- 
ing disaffection  toward  England.  So  it  had  been  under 
Newcastle,  who  had  uniformly  avoided  personal  annoy- 

302 


'QUEM  JUPITER  vn/r  PERDERE 

anre  by  omitting  to  read  the  constant  complaints  of 
the  commissioners;  but  Bedford  was  a  man  of  another 
stump,  fond  of  business,  granite  in  his  decisions,  and 
resolved  to  be  master  in  his  department.  It  was  easy 
to  surmise  that  his  appointment  would  hasten  the  drift 
of  things  toward  a  crisis.  England  would  not  tamely 
relinquish  her  claim  to  absolute  jurisdiction  over  her 
colonies.  But  the  bulwarks  of  popular  liberty  were 
rising  in  America,  and  every  year  saw  them  strength- 
ened and  more  ably  manned.  English  legislative  oppo- 
sition only  defined  and  solidified  the  colonial  resist- 
ance. What  was  to  be  the  result?  There  would  be  no 
lack  of  English  statesmen  competent  to  consider  it; 
men  like  Pitt,  Murray,  and  Townshend  were  already 
above  the  horizon  of  history.  But  it  was  not  by  states- 
manship that  the  issue  was  to  be  decided.  Man  is 
proud  of  his  intellect;  but  it  is  generally  observable 
that  it  is  the  armed  hand  that  settles  the  political  prob- 
lems of  the  world. 

There  were  in  the  colonies  men  of  ability  and  of  con- 
sideration who  were  traitors  to  the  cause  of  freedom. 
Such  were  Thomas  Hutchinson,  a  plausible  hypocrite, 
not  devoid  of  good  qualities,  but  intent  upon  filling 
his  pockets  from  the  public  purse;  Oliver,  a  man  of 
less  ability  but  equal  avarice;  and  William  Shirley, 
the  scheming  lawyer  from  England,  who  had  made 
America  his  home  in  order  to  squeeze  a  living  out  of 
it.  These  men  went  to  England  to  promote  the  pas- 
sage of  a  law  insuring  a  regular  revenue  for  the  civil 
list  from  the  colonists,  independent  of  the  latter's  ap- 
proval, the  immediate  pretext  being  that  money  was 
needed  to  protect  the  colonies  against  French  encroach- 
ments. The  several  assemblies  refused  to  consent  to 
such  a  tax;  and  the  question  was  then  raised  whether 
Parliament  had  not  the  right  to  override  the  colo- 
nists' will.  Lord  Halifax,  the  First  Commissioner,  was 
urgent  in  favor  of  the  proposition ;  he  was  an  ignorant, 
arbitrary  man,  who  laid  out  a  plan  for  the  subjugation 
of  the  colonies  as  lightly  and  willfully  as  he  might  have' 
directed  the  ditch  digging  and  fence  building  on  his 
estates.  Murray,  afterward  Lord  Mansfield,  held  that 

303 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Parliament  had  the  requisite  power;  but  in  the  face 
of  the  united  protest  of  the  colonies,  that  body  laid 
the  measure  aside  for  the  present.  Meanwhile  the  con- 
ditions of  future  trouble  were  preparing  in  the  Ohio 
Valley,  where  French  and  English  were  making  con- 
flicting claims  and  planting  rival  stations ;  and  in  Nova 
Scotia,  where  the  town  of  Halifax  was  founded  in  an 
uninviting  fir  forest,  and  the  project  was  mooted  of 
transporting  the  French  Acadians  to  some  place  or 
places  where  they  would  cease  to  constitute  a  peril 
by  serving  as  a  stage  for  French  machinations  against 
the  English  rule. 

Another  and  final  war  with  France  was  already 
appearing  inevitable;  the  colonists  must  bear  a  hand 
in  it,  but  they  also  were  at  odds  with  England  herself 
on  questions  vital  to  their  prosperity  and  happiness. 
In  the  welter  of  events  of  the  next  few  years  we  find 
a  mingling  of  conditions  deliberately  created  (with  a 
view,  on  England's  part,  of  checking  the  independent 
tendencies  of  the  Americans  and  of  forcing  tribute 
from  them),  and  of  unforeseen  occurrences  due  to  for- 
tuitous causes  beyond  the  calculation  and  control  of 
persons  in  power.  Finally  the  declaration  of  war 
against  France  in  1756 — though  it  had  unofficially  ex- 
isted at  least  two  years  before — and  its  able  manage- 
ment by  the  great  Pitt,  enabled  England  to  dictate 
a  peace  in  1763,  giving  her  all  she  asked  for  in  Europe 
and  the  East,  and  the  whole  of  the  French  possessions 
in  America,  besides  islands  in  the  West  Indies.  Her 
triumph  was  great;  but  she  did  not  foresee  (though  a 
few  acute  observers  did)  that  this  great  conquest  would 
within  a  few  years  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  colonists, 
making  them  potentially  the  greatest  of  nations.  At 
the  era  of  the  Revolution  the  white  inhabitants  in  the 
colonies  numbered  about  two  million,  and  the  black 
about  half  a  million. 

In  1754  the  French  had  upward  of  sixty  posts  west 
of  the  Alleghenies,  and  were  sending  expeditions  to 
drive  out  whatever  Englishmen  could  be  found.  The 
Indian  tribes  who  believed  themselves  to  own  the  land 
were  aroused,  and  appealed  to  the  Americans  to  assist 

304 


QUEM  JUPITER  VULT  PERDERE 

them,  which  the  latter  were  willing  to  do,  though  not 
for  the  Indians'  sake.  Virginia  was  especially  con- 
cerned, because  she  claimed  beyond  the  western  moun- 
tains, and  had  definite  designs  in  that  direction.  In 
order  to  find  out  just  what  the  disposition  of  the 
French  might  be,  Robert  Dinwiddie,  a  Scot,  Governor 
of  Virginia,  selected  a  trustworthy  envoy  to  proceed 
to  the  French  commanders  in  the  disputed  districts 
and  ask  their  purposes.  His  choice  fell  upon  George 
Washington,  a  young  man  of  blameless  character, 
steady,  courageous,  and  observant,  wise  in  judgment 
and  of  mature  mind,  though  he  was  but  one  and  twenty 
years  of  age.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Virginia  planter, 
had  had  such  schooling  as  his  neighborhood  afforded 
until  he  was  sixteen,  and  had  then  begun  life  as  a 
surveyor — a  good  calling  in  a  country  whose  inhabi- 
tants were  daily  increasing  and  whose  lands  were  prac- 
tically limitless.  Life  in  the  open  air,  and  the  custom 
of  the  woods  and  hills,  had  developed  a  frame  origi- 
nally powerful  into  that  of  a  tall  and  hardened  athlete, 
able  to  run,  wrestle,  swim,  leap,  ride,  as  well  as  to  use 
the  musket  and  the  sword.  His  intellect  was  not  brilliant, 
but  it  was  clear,  and  his  habit  of  thought  methodical; 
he  was  of  great  modesty,  yet  one  of  those  who  rise  to 
the  emergency,  and  are  kindled  into  greater  and  greater 
power  by  responsibilities  or  difficulties  which  would 
overwhelm  feebler  or  less  constant  natures.  None 
would  have  been  less  likely  than  Washington  himself 
to  foretell  his  own  greatness ;  but  when  others  believed 
in  him  he  was  compelled  by  his  religious  and  conscien- 
tious nature  to  act  up  to  their  belief.  The  marvelous 
selflessness  of  the  man,  while  it  concealed  from  him 
what  he  was,  immeasurably  increased  his  power  to  act ; 
to  do  his  duty  was  all  that  he  ever  proposed  to  himself, 
and  therefore  he  was  able  to  concentrate  his  every 
faculty  on  that  alone.  The  lessons  of  experience  were 
never  thrown  away  upon  him,  and  his  faith  in  an  over- 
ruling Providence  rendered  him  calm  at  all  times,  ex- 
cept on  the  rare  occasions  when  some  subordinate's 
incompetence  or  negligence  at  a  critical  moment  caused 
to  burst  forth  in  him  that  terrific  wrath  which  was 

305 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

more  appalling  to  its  object  than  the  guns  of  a  battery. 
There  was  always  great  personal  dignity  in  Washing- 
ton, insomuch  that  nothing  like  comradeship,  in  the 
familiar  sense,  was  ever  possible  to  anyone  with  him ; 
he  was  totally  devoid  of  the  sense  of  humor,  and  was, 
therefore,  debarred  from  one  whole  region  of  human 
sympathies  which  Franklin  loved  to  dwell  in.  It  is 
one  of  the  marvels  of  history  that  a  man  with  a  mind 
of  such  moderate  compass  as  Washington's  should 
have  gained  the  reputation,  which  he  amply  deserved, 
of  being  the  foremost  American  of  his  age,  and  one 
of  the  leading  figures  in  human  annals.  But,  in  truth, 
we  attach  far  too  much  weight  to  intellect  in  our  esti- 
mates of  human  worth.  Washington  was  competent 
for  the  work  that  was  given  him  to  do,  and  that  work 
was  one  of  the  most  important  that  ever  fell  to  the 
lot  of  a  man.  Faith,  firmness,  integrity,  grasp,  sim- 
plicity, and  the  exceptional  physical  endowment  which 
enabled  him  to  support  the  tremendous  fatigues  and 
trials  of  his  campaigns,  and  of  the  opposition  he  en- 
countered from  selfish  and  shortsighted  politicians  in 
Congress — these  qualities  were  almost  sufficient  to  ac- 
count for  Washington.  Almost,  but  perhaps  not  quite ; 
there  must  have  been  in  addition  an  inestimable  per- 
sonal equation  which  fused  all  into  a  harmonious  indi- 
viduality that  isolates  him  in  our  regard:  a  wholeness, 
which  can  be  felt,  but  which  is  hardly  to  be  set  down 
in  phrases. 

Washington's  instructions  required  him  to  proceed 
to  Venango  and  Waterford,  a  distance  of  more  than 
four  hundred  miles,  through  forests  and  over  moun- 
tains, with  rivers  to  cross  and  hostile  Indians  to  beware 
of ;  and  it  was  the  middle  of  November  when  he  set  out, 
with  the  most  inclement  season  of  the  year  before  him. 
Kit  Gist,  a  hunter  and  trapper  of  the  Natty  Buinppo 
order,  was  his  guide;  they  laid  their  course  through 
the  dense  but  naked  forests  as  a  mariner  over  a  sullen 
sea.  Four  or  five  attendants,  including  an  interpreter, 
made  up  the  party.  Day  after  day  they  rode,  sleep- 
ing at  night  round  a  fire,  with  the  snow  or  the  freezing 
rain  falling  on  their  blankets,  and  the  immense  silence 

306 


QTJEM    JUPITER    VULT    PERDERE 

of  the  winter  woods  around  them.  On  the  23d  of  the 
month  they  came  to  the  point  of  junction  between  two 
great  rivers — the  Monongahela  and  the  Allegheny.  A 
wild  and  solitary  spot  it  was,  hardly  visited  till  then 
by  white  men ;  the  land  on  the  fork  was  level  and  broad, 
with  mighty  trees  thronging  upon  it;  opposite  were 
steep  bluffs.  The  Allegheny  hurried  downward  at  the 
rate  a  man  would  walk;  the  Monongahela  loitered, 
deep  and  glassy.  Washington  had  acted  as  adjutant 
of  a  body  of  Virginia  troops  for  the  past  two  or  three 
years,  and  he  examined  the  place  with  the  eyes  of  a 
soldier  as  well  as  of  a  surveyor.  It  seemed  to  him  that 
a  fort  and  a  town  could  be  well  placed  there;  but  in 
the  pure  frosty  air  of  that  ancient  forest,  untenanted 
save  by  wild  beasts,  there  was  no  foreshadowing  of  the 
grimy  smoke  and  roar,  the  flaring  smelting  works,  the 
crowded  and  eager  population  of  the  Pittsburgh  that 
was  to  be.  Having  fixed  the  scene  in  his  memory, 
Washington  rode  his  horse  down  the  river  bank  and, 
plunging  into  the  icy  current,  swam  across.  On  the 
northwest  shore  a  fire  was  built,  where  the  party  dried 
their  garments  and  slept  the  sleep  of  frontiersmen. 

Conducted  now  by  the  Delawares,  they  crossed  low- 
lying,  fertile  lands  to  Logstown,  where  they  got  news 
of  a  junction  between  French  troops  from  Louisiana 
and  from  Erie.  Arriving  in  due  season  at  Venango, 
Washington  found  the  French  officer  in  command  there 
very  positive  that  the  Ohio  was  theirs  and  that  they 
would  keep  it;  they  admitted  that  the  English  out- 
numbered them;  but  "they  are  too  dilatory,"  said  the 
Frenchman,  staring  up  with  an  affectation  of  super- 
ciliousness at  the  tall,  blue-eyed  young  Virginian.  The 
latter  thanked  the  testy  Gaul  with  his  customary  grave 
courtesy  and  continued  his  journey  to  Fort  Le  Boeuf. 
It  was  a  structure  characteristic  of  the  place  and 
period;  a  rude  but  effective  redoubt  of  logs  and  clay, 
with  the  muzzles  of  cannon  pouting  from  the  embra- 
sures, and  more  than  two  hundred  boats  and  canoes 
for  the  trip  down  the  river.  "I  shall  seize  every  Eng- 
lishman in  the  valley,"  was  the  polite  assurance  of  the 
commander ;  but,  being  a  man  of  pith  himself,  he  knew 

307 


another  when  he  saw  him,  and  offered  Washington  the 
hospitalities  of  the  post.  But  the  serious  young  soldier 
had  no  taste  for  hobnobbing,  and  returned  at  once  to 
Venango,  where  he  found  his  horses  unavailable  and 
continued  southward  on  foot,  meeting  bad  weather  and 
deep  snow.  He  borrowed  a  deerskin  shirt  and  leggings 
from  the  tallest  of  the  Indians,  dismissed  his  attend- 
ants, left  the  Indian  trail,  and  struck  out  for  the  Forks 
by  compass,  with  Gist  as  his  companion.  A  misguided 
red  man,  hoping  for  glory  from  the  white  chief's  scalp, 
prepared  an  ambush,  and  as  Washington  passed  within 
a  few  paces  pulled  the  trigger  on  him.  He  did  not  know 
that  the  destiny  of  half  the  world  hung  upon  his  aim ; 
but  indeed  the  bullet  was  never  molded  that  could  draw 
blood  from  Washington.  The  red  man  missed ;  and  the 
next  moment  Gist  had  him  helpless  with  a  knife  at  his 
throat.  But  no :  the  man  who  could  pour  out  the  lives 
of  his  country's  enemies  and  of  his  own  soldiers  with- 
out stint  when  duty  demanded  it,  and  could  hang  a 
gallant  and  gently  nurtured  youth  as  a  spy,  was  averse 
from  bloodshed  when  only  his  insignificant  self  was 
concerned.  Gist  must  sulkily  put  up  his  knife,  and 
the  would-be  assassin  was  suffered  to  depart  in  peace. 
But,  in  order  to  avoid  the  possible  consequences  of  this 
magnanimity,  the  envoy  and  his  companion  traveled 
without  pausing  for  more  than  sixty  miles.  And,  then, 
here  was  the  Allegheny  to  cross  again  and  no  horse  to 
help  one.  Swimming  was  out  of  the  question,  even  for 
the  iron  Washington,  for  the  river  was  hurtling  with 
jagged  cakes  of  ice.  A  day's  hacking  with  a  little 
hatchet  cut  down  trees  enough — not  apple  trees — to 
make  a  raft,  on  which  they  adventured;  but  in  mid- 
stream Washington's  pole  upset  him,  and  he  was  fain 
to  get  ashore  on  an  island.  There  must  they  pass  the 
night;  and  so  cold  was  it  that  the  next  morning  they 
were  able  to  reach  the  mainland,  dry  shod,  on  the 
ice.  What  was  crossing  the  Delaware  (almost  exactly 
twenty-three  years  afterward)  compared  to  this?  Wash- 
ington was  destined  to  do  much  of  his  work  amid  snow 
and  ice;  but  for  aught  anybody  could  say,  the  poles  or 
the  equator  were  all  one  to  him. 

308 


QUEM  JUPITER  VULT  PERDERE 

In  consequence  of  his  report  a  fort  was  begun  on  the 
site  of  Pittsburgh,  and  he  was  appointed  Lieutenant 
Colonel  to  take  charge  of  it,  with  a  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  and  orders  to  destroy  whomsoever  presumed  to 
stay  him.  Two  hundred  square  miles  of  fertile  Ohio 
lands  were  to  be  their  reward.  An  invitation  to  other 
colonies  to  join  in  the  assertion  of  English  ownership 
met  with  scanty  response,  or  none  at  all.  The  idea  of 
a  union  was  in  the  air,  but  it  was  complicated  with 
that  old  bugbear  of  a  regular  revenue  to  be  exacted 
by  act  of  Parliament,  which  Shirley  and  the  others  still 
continued  to  press  with  hungry  zeal;  while  the  assem- 
blies were  not  less  set  upon  making  all  grants  annual, 
with  specifications  as  to  person  and  object.  While  the 
matter  hung  in  the  wind  the  Virginians  were  exposed 
to  superior  forces ;  but  in  the  spring  of  1754  Washing- 
ton, with  forty  men,  surprised  a  party  under  Jumon- 
ville,  defeated  them,  killed  Jumonville,  and  took  the 
survivors  prisoners.  Washington  was  exposed  to  the 
thickest  showers  of  the  bullets;  they  whistled  to  him 
familiarly,  and  "believe  me,"  he  assured  a  correspond- 
ent, "there  is  something  charming  in  the  sound."  His 
life  was  to  be  sweetened  by  a  great  deal  of  that  kind 
of  charm. 

But  the  French  were  gathering  like  hornets,  and  the 
Lieutenant  Colonel  must  needs  take  refuge  in  a  stock- 
aded post  named  Fort  Necessity,  where  his  small  force 
was  besieged  by  seven  hundred  French  and  Indians 
who,  in  a  nine  hours'  attack,  killed  thirty  of  his  men, 
but  used  up  most  of  their  own  ammunition.  A  parley 
resulted  in  Washington's  marching  out  with  all  his 
survivors  and  their  baggage  and  retiring  from  the  Ohio 
Valley.  The  war  was  begun ;  and  it  was  worth  noting 
that  Washington's  command  to  "Fire!"  on  Jumonville's 
party  was  the  word  that  began  it.  But  still  the  other 
colonists  held  off.  The  Six  Nations  began  to  mur- 
mur: "The  French  are  men,"  said  they;  "you  are  like 
women."  In  June,  1754,  a  convocation  or  congress  of 
deputies  from  all  colonies  north  of  the  Potomac  came 
together  at  Albany.  Franklin  was  among  them,  with 
the  draft  of  a  plan  of  union  in  his  ample  pocket  and 

309 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

dauntless  and  deep  thoughts  in  his  broad  mind.  Ht 
was  always  far  in  advance  of  his  time ;  one  of  the  most 
"modern"  men  of  that  century;  but  he  had  the  final 
excellence  of  wisdom  which  consists  in  never  forcing 
his  contemporaries  to  bite  off  more  than  there  was  rea- 
sonable prospect  of  their  being  able  to  chew.  He  lifted 
them  gently  up  step  after  step  of  the  ascent  toward 
the  stars. 

Philadelphia  is  a  central  spot  (this  was  the  gist  of 
his  proposal),  so  let  it  be  the  seat  of  our  Federal  Gov- 
ernment. Let  us  have  a  triennial  grand  council  to 
originate  bills,  allowing  King  George  to  appoint  the 
governor  general,  who  may  have  a  negative  voice  and 
who  shall  choose  the  military  officers,  as  against  the 
civil  appointees  of  the  council.  All  war  measures,  ex- 
ternal land  purchases  and  organization,  general  laws 
and  taxes,  should  be  the  province  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, but  each  colony  should  keep  its  private  con- 
stitution, and  money  should  issue  only  by  common  con- 
sent. Once  a  year  should  the  council  meet,  to  sit  not 
more  than  six  weeks,  under  a  speaker  of  their  own 
choosing.  In  the  debate  the  scheme  was  closely  criti- 
cized, but  the  suave  wielder  of  the  lightning  gently  dis- 
armed all  opponents  and  won  a  substantial  victory — 
"not  altogether  to  my  mind";  but  he  insisted  upon  no 
counsel  of  perfection.  England  and  some  of  the  colo- 
nies themselves  were  somewhat  uneasy  after  thinking  it 
over ;  mutual  sympathy  is  not  created  by  reason.  Eng- 
land doubted  on  other  grounds ;  a  united  country  might 
be  more  easy  to  govern  than  thirteen  who  each  de- 
manded special  treatment;  but  then,  what  if  the  Fed- 
eration decline  to  be  governed  at  all?  Meanwhile  there 
was  the  Federation;  and  Franklin,  looking  westward, 
foresaw  the  Nineteenth  Century. 

Doubtless,  however,  outside  pressure  would  be  neces- 
sary to  reenforce  the  somewhat  lukewarm  sentiment 
among  the  colonies  in  favor  of  union.  A  review  of 
their  several  conditions  at  this  time  would  show  gen- 
eral prosperity  and  enjoyment  of  liberty,  but  great  un- 
likenesses  in  manners  and  customs  and  private  preju- 
dices. Virginia,  most  important  of  the  southern  group, 

310 


QUEM    JUPITER    VFLT    PERDERE 

showed  the  apparent  contradiction  of  a  people  with 
republican  ideas  living  after  the  style  of  aristocrats; 
breeding  great  gentlemen  like  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Madison,  and  Patrick  Henry,  who  were  to  be  leaders 
in  the  work  of.  founding  and  defending  the  first  great 
democracy  of  the  world.  Maryland  was  a  picturesque 
principality  under  the  rule  of  a  dissolute  young  prince, 
who  enjoyed  a  great  private  revenue  from  his  posses- 
sions and  yet  interfered  but  little  with  the  individual 
freedom  of  his  subjects.  Pennsylvania  was  administer- 
ing itself  on  a  basis  of  sheer  civic  equality,  and  was 
absorbing  from  Franklin  the  principles  of  liberal 
thought  and  education.  New  York  was  so  largely 
tinged  with  Dutchmanship  that  it  resented  more  than 
the  others  the  authority  of  alien  England,  and  fought 
its  royal  governors  to  the  finish.  New  England  was 
an  aggregation  of  independent  towns,  each  with  a  little 
democracy,  full  of  religious  and  educational  vigor.  In 
Delaware  John  Woolman,  the  tailor,  was  denouncing 
slavery  with  all  the  zeal  and  arguments  of  the  Garri- 
sons of  a  ceii hi ry  later.  These  were  incongruous  ele- 
ments to  bo  bound  into  a  fagot;  but  there  was  a  policy 
being  consolidated  in  England  which  would  presently 
give  them  good  reason  for  standing  together  to  secure 
rights  which  were  more  precious  than  private  pet  tra- 
ditions and  peculiarities.  Newcastle  became  head  of 
the  English  Government;  he  appointed  the  absurd 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  Captain  General  of  the  English 
army,  to  the  direction  of  American  military  affairs; 
and  he  picked  out  an  obstinate,  ruffianly,  stupid  marti- 
net of  a  Perthshire  Scotchman,  sixty  years  old  and  of 
ruined  fortunes,  to  lead  the  English  forces  against  the 
French  in  America.  Braddock  went  over  armed  with 
the  new  and  despotic  mutiny  bill,  and  with  directions 
to  divest  all  colonial  army  officers  of  their  rank  while 
in  his  service.  He  was  also  to  exact  a  revenue  by 
royal  prerogative,  and  the  governors  were  to  collect 
a  fund  to  be  expended  for  colonial  military  operations. 
This  was  Newcastle's  notion  of  what  was  suitable  for 
the  occasion.  In  the  meantime  Shirley,  persistently 
malevolent,  advocated  parliamentary  taxation  of  the 

311 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

colonies  and  a  congress  of  royal  governors;  and  to  the 
arguments  of  Franklin  against  this  plan  suggested 
colonial  representation  in  Parliament,  which  Franklin 
disapproved  unless  all  colonial  disabilities  be  removed 
and  they  become  in  all  political  respects  an  integral 
portion  of  England.  During  the  discussion  the  colo- 
nies themselves  were  resisting  the  royal  prerogative 
with  embarrassing  unanimity.  Braddock,  on  landing 
and  finding  no  money  ready,  was  exceeding  wroth ;  but 
the  helpless  governors  told  him  that  nothing  short  of 
an  act  of  Parliament  would  suffice;  possibly  not  even 
that.  Taxation  was  the  one  cry  of  every  royal  office- 
holder in  America.  What  sort  of  a  tax  should  it  be? 
Well,  a  stamp  tax  seemed  the  easiest  method ;  a  stamp, 
like  a  mosquito,  sucks  but  little  blood  at  a  time,  but 
mosquitoes  in  the  aggregate  draw  a  great  deal.  But 
the  Stamp  Act  was  to  be  delayed  eleven  years  more, 
and  then  its  authors  were  to  receive  an  unpleasant 
surprise. 

There  was  a  strong  profession  of  reluctance  on  both 
the  French  and  English  side  to  come  formally  to  blows ; 
both  sent  large  bodies  of  troops  to  the  Ohio  Valley, 
"but  only  for  defense."  Braddock  was  ready  to  advance 
in  April  if  only  he  had  "horses  and  carriages,"  which, 
by  Franklin's  exertions,  were  supplied.  The  bits  of 
dialogue  and  comment  in  which  this  grizzled  nincom- 
poop was  an  interlocutor,  or  of  which  he  was  the  theme, 
are  as  amusing  as  a  page  from  a  comedy  of  Shakespeare. 
Braddock  has  been  called  brave;  but  the  term  is  in- 
appropriate; he  could  fly  into  a  rage  when  his  brutal 
or  tyrannical  instincts  were  questioned  or  thwarted, 
and  become  insensible  for  a  time  even  to  physical  dan- 
ger. Ignorance,  folly,  and  self-conceit  not  seldom  make 
a  man  seem  fearless  who  is  a  poltroon  at  heart.  Brad- 
dock's  death  was  a  better  one  than  he  deserved;  he 
raged  about  the  field  like  a  dazed  bull ;  fly  he  could  not; 
he  was  incapable  of  adopting  any  intelligent  measures 
to  save  his  troops ;  on  the  contrary  he  kept  reiterating 
conventional  orders  in  a  manner  that  showed  his  wits 
were  gone.  The  bullet  that  dropped  him  did  him  good 
service;  but  his  honor  was  so  little  sensitive  that  he 

312 


QUEM  JUPITER  VULT  PERDERE 

felt  no  gratitude  at  being  thus  saved  the  consequences 
of  one  of  the  most  disgraceful  and  willfully  incurred 
defeats  that  ever  befell  an  English  general.  The  Eng- 
lish troops  upon  whom,  according  to  Braddock,  "it  was 
impossible  that  the  savages  should  make  any  impres- 
sion," huddled  together  and  shot  down  their  own  offi- 
cers in  their  blundering  volleys.  In  the  narrow  wood 
path  they  could  not  see  the  enemy,  who  fired  from 
behind  trees  at  their  leisure.  Half  of  the  men  and 
sixty-three  out  of  the  eighty-six  officers  were  killed  or 
wounded. 

In  that  hell  of  explosions,  smoke,  yells,  and  carnage 
Washington  was  clear-headed  and  alert,  and  passed 
to  and  fro  amid  the  rain  of  bullets  as  if  his  body 
were  no  more  mortal  than  his  soul.  The  contingent 
of  Virginian  troops — the  "raw  American  militia,"  as 
Braddock  had  called  them,  "who  have  little  courage  or 
good  will,  from  whom  I  expect  almost  no  military  serv- 
ice, though  I  have  employed  the  best  officers  to  drill 
them" — these  men  did  almost  the  only  fighting  that 
was  done  on  the  English  side,  but  they  were  too  few 
to  avert  the  disaster. 

The  expedition  had  set  out  from  Turtle  Creek  on  the 
Monongahela  on  the  9th  of  July — twelve  hundred  men. 
The  objective  point  was  Fort  Duquesne,  "which  can 
hardly  detain  me  above  three  or  four  days,"  remarked 
the  dull  curmudgeon.  No  scouts  were  thrown  out :  they 
walked  straight  into  the  ambuscade  which  some  two 
hundred  French  and  six  hundred  Indians  had  prepared 
for  them.  The  slaughter  lasted  two  hours;  there  was 
no  maneuvering.  Thirty  men  of  the  three  Virginia  com- 
panies were  left  alive;  they  stood  their  ground  to  the 
last,  while  the  British  regulars  "ran  as  sheep  before 
hounds,"  leaving  everything  to  the  enemy.  Washing- 
ton did  whatever  was  possible  to  prevent  the  retreat 
from  becoming  a  blind  panic.  When  the  rout  reached 
the  camp,  Dunbar,  the  officer  in  charge  there,  destroyed 
everything,  to  the  value  of  half  a  million  dollars,  and 
ran  with  the  rest.  Reviewing  the  affair,  Franklin  re- 
marks with  a  demure  arching  of  the  eyebrow  that  it 
"gave  us  Americans  the  first  suspicion  that  our  exalted 

313 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

ideas  of  the  prowess  of  British  regular  troops  had  not 
been  well  founded." 

It  was  indeed  an  awakening  for  the  colonists.  For 
all  their  bold  resistance  to  oppression  they  had  never 
ceased  to  believe  that  an  English  soldier  was  the  su- 
preme and  final  expression  of  trained  and  disciplined 
force;  and  now,,  before  their  almost  incredulous  eyes, 
the  flower  of  the  British  army  had  been  beaten  and  the 
bloody  remnant  stampeded  into  a  shameful  flight  by 
a  few  hundred  painted  savages  and  Frenchmen.  They 
all  had  been  watching  Braddock's  march,  and  they 
never  forgot  the  lesson  of  his  defeat.  From  that  time 
the  British  regular  was  to  them  only  a  "lobster  back," 
more  likely,  when  it  came  to  equal  conflict  with  them- 
selves, to  run  away  than  to  stand  his  ground. 

Instead  of  throwing  themselves  into  the  arms  of 
France,  however,  the  colonists  loyally  addressed  them- 
selves to  helping  King  George  out  of  his  scrape;  and 
though  they  would  not  let  him  tax  them,  they  hesi- 
tated not  to  tax  themselves.  Pennsylvania  raised  fifty 
thousand  pounds,  and  Massachusetts  sent  near  eight 
thousand  men  to  aid  in  driving  the  French  from  the 
northern  border.  Acadia's  time  had  come.  Though 
the  descendants  of  the  Breton  peasants,  who  dated 
their  settlement  from  1604,  had  since  the  Peace  of 
Utrecht  nominally  belonged  to  England,  yet  their  senti- 
ments and  mode  of  life  had  been  unaltered ;  Port  Royal 
had  been  little  changed  by  calling  it  Annapolis,  and 
the  simple,  old-fashioned  Catholics  loved  their  homes 
with  all  the  tenacity  of  six  unbroken  generations.  Their 
feet  were  familiar  in  the  paths  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
quiet  and  industrious  years;  their  houses  nestled  in 
their  lowly  places  like  natural  features  of  the  land- 
scape; their  fields  and  herds  and  the  graves  of  their 
forefathers  sweetened  and  consecrated  the  land.  They 
were  a  chaste,  industrious,  homely,  pious,  but  not  an 
intellectual  people;  and  to  such  the  instinct  of  home 
is  far  stronger  than  in  more  highly  cultivated  races. 
They  had  prospered  in  their  modest  degree  and  multi- 
plied; so  that  now  they  numbered  sixteen  thousand 
men,  women,  and  children.  During  the  past  few  years, 

314 


QUEM  JUPITER  VULT  PERDERE 

however,  they  had  been  subjected  to  the  unrestrained 
brutality  of  English  administration  in  its  worst  form ; 
they  had  no  redress  at  law,  their  property  could  be 
taken  from  them  without  payment  or  recourse;  if  they 
did  not  keep  their  tyrant's  fires  burning,  "the  soldiers 
shall  absolutely  take  their  houses  for  fuel."  Estate 
titles,  records,  all  that  could  identify  and  guarantee 
their  ownership  in  the  means  and  conditions  of  liveli- 
hood, were  taken ;  even  their  boats  and  their  antiquated 
firearms  were  sequestrated.  And  orders  were  actually 
given  to  the  soldiers  to  punish  any  misbehavior  sum- 
marily upon  the  first  Acadian  who  came  to  hand, 
whether  or  not  he  were  guilty  of,  or  aware  of,  the 
offense,  and  with  absolutely  no  concern  for  the  formal- 
ity of  arrest  or  trial.  In  all  the  annals  of  Spanish 
brutality  there  is  nothing  more  disgraceful  to  human- 
ity than  the  systematic  and  enjoined  treatment  of  these 
innocent  Bretons  by  the  English  even  before  the  con- 
summating outrage  which  made  the  whole  civilized 
world  stare  in  indignant  amazement. 

It  is  a  matter  for  keen  regret  that  men  born  on  our 
soil  should  have  been  even  involuntarily  associated 
with  this  episode.  The  design  was  kept  a  secret  from 
all  until  the  last  moment;  but  one  could  wish  that 
some  American  had  then  committed  an  act  of  insub- 
ordination, though  at  the  cost  of  his  life,  by  way  of 
indicating  the  detestation  which  all  civilized  and  hu- 
mane minds  must  feel  for  such  an  act.  The  colonists 
knew  the  value  of  liberty;  they  had  made  sacrifices  for 
it;  they  had  felt  the  shadow  of  oppression;  and  they 
might  see,  in  the  treatment  of  the  Acadians,  what 
would  have  been  their  fate  had  they  yielded  to  the 
despotic  instincts  of  England.  The  best  and  the  worst 
that  can  be  said  of  them  is  that  they  obeyed  orders 
and  looked  on  while  the  iniquity  was  being  perpetrated. 

The  force  of  provincials  and  regulars  landed  without 
molestation  and  captured  the  feeble  forts  with  the  loss 
of  but  twenty  killed.  The  Acadians  agreed  to  take  the 
oath  of  fidelity,  but  stipulated  not  to  be  forced  to  bear 
ai-ms  against  their  own  countrymen.  General  Charles 
Lawrence,  the  Lieutenant  Governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  re- 

315 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

plied  to  their  plea  that  they  be  allowed  to  have  their 
boats  and  guns,  that  it  was  "highly  arrogant,  insidi- 
ous, and  insulting";  and  Halifax,  another  of  the  com- 
panions in  infamy,  added  that  they  wanted  their  boats 
for  "carrying  provisions  to  the  enemy" — there  being 
no  enemy  nearer  than  Quebec.  As  for  the  guns,  "all 
Roman  Catholics  are  restrained  from  having  arms  and 
are  subject  to  penalties  if  arms  are  found  in  their 
houses."  "Not  the  want  of  arms,  but  our  consciences, 
would  engage  us  not  to  revolt,"  pleaded  the  unhappy 
men.  "What  excuse  can  you  make,"  bellows  Halifax, 
"for  treating  this  Government  with  such  indignity  as 
to  expound  to  them  the  nature  of  fidelity?"  The  Aca- 
dians  agreed  to  take  the  oath  unconditionally:  "By 
British  statute,"  they  were  thereupon  informed,  "hav- 
ing once  refused,  you  cannot  after  take  the  oath,  but 
are  popish  recusants."  Chief  Justice  Belcher,  a  third 
of  these  British  moguls,  declared  they  obstructed  the 
progress  of  the  settlement,  and  that  all  of  them  should 
be  deported  from  the  province.  Proclamation  was  then 
made,  ordering  them  to  assemble  at  their  respective 
posts;  and  in  the  morning  they  obeyed,  leaving  their 
homes,  to  which,  though  they  knew  it  not,  they  were 
never  to  return.  "Your  lands  and  tenements,  cattle  of 
all  kinds,  and  live  stock  of  all  sorts,  are  forfeited  to 
the  Crown,"  they  were  told,  "and  you  yourselves  are 
to  be  removed  from  this  province."  They  were  kept 
prisoners,  without  food,  till  the  ships  should  be  ready. 
Not  only  were  they  torn  from  their  homes,  but  families 
were  separated,  sons  from  their  mothers,  husbands  from 
their  wives,  daughters  from  their  parents,  and,  as  Long- 
fellow has  pictured  to  us,  lovers  from  one  another. 
Those  who  tried  to  escape  were  hunted  by  the  soldiers 
like  wild  beasts,  and  "if  they  can  find  a  pretext  to  kill 
them,  they  will,"  said  a  British  officer.  They  were  scat- 
tered, helpless,  friendless,  and  destitute,  all  up  and 
down  the  Atlantic  Coast,  and  their  villages  were  laid 
waste.  Lord  Loudoun,  British  Commander  in  Chief  in 
America,  on  receiving  a  petition  from  some  of  them 
written  in  French,  was  so  enraged  not  only  at  their 
petitioning,  but  that  they  should  presume  to  do  so  in 

^ 


QUEM  JUPITER  VULT  PERDERE 

their  own  language,  that  he  had  five  of  their  leading 
men  arrested,  consigned  to  England,  and  sent  as  com- 
mon seamen  on  English  men-of-war.  No  detail  was 
wanting,  from  first  to  last,  to  make  the  crime  of  the 
Acadian  deportation  perfect;  and  only  an  Irishman, 
Edmund  Burke,  lifted  his  voice  to  say  that  the  deed 
was  inhuman  and  done  "upon  pretenses  that,  in  the  eye 
of  an  honest  man,  are  not  worth  a  farthing."  But 
Burke  was  not  in  Parliament  until  eleven  years  after 
the  Acadians  were  scattered. 

The  incident,  from  an  external  point  of  view,  does 
not  belong  to  the  history  of  the  United  States.  Yet 
is  it  pertinent  thereto,  as  showing  of  what  enormities 
the  English  of  that  age  were  capable.  Their  entire  con- 
duct during  this  French  war  was  dishonorable  and 
often  atrocious.  Forgetting  the  facts  of  history,  we 
often  smile  at  the  grumblings  of  the  continental  nations 
anent  "perfidious  Albion"  and  "British  gold."  But  the 
acts  committed  by  the  English  Government  during 
these  years  fully  justify  every  charge  of  corruption, 
treachery,  and  political  profligacy  that  has  ever  been 
brought  against  them.  It  was  a  strange  age,  in  which 
a  great  and  noble  people  were  mysteriously  hurried  into 
sins,  follies,  and  disgraces  seemingly  foreign  to  their 
character.  It  was  because  the  people  had  surrendered 
their  Government  into  alien  and  shameless  hands.  They 
deserved  their  punishment,  for  it  is  nothing  less  than 
a  crime,  having  known  liberty,  either  to  deny  it  to 
others  or  for  the  sake  of  earthly  advantage  to  consent 
to  any  compromise  of  it  in  ourselves. 


317 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   PLAINS   OF   ABRAHAM    AND   THE    STAMP   ACT 

THE  gathering  of  soldiers  from  France,  England, 
and  the  colonies,  and  the  rousing  of  the  Indians 
on  one  side  and  the  other,  made  the  great  forest 
which  stretched  across  northern  New  York  and  New 
England  populous  with  troops  and  resonant  with  the 
sounds  of  war.  Those  solemn  woodland  aisles  and  quiet 
glades  were  desecrated  by  marchings  and  campings, 
and  in  the  ravines  and  recesses  lay  the  corpses  of  men 
in  uniforms,  the  grim  remains  of  peasants  who  had  been 
born  three  thousand  miles  away.  Passing  through  the 
depths  of  the  wilderness,  apparently  remote  from  all 
human  habitation,  one  would  suddenly  come  upon  a 
fortress,  frowning  with  heavy  guns,  and  surrounded  by 
the  log-built  barracks  of  the  soldiery,  who,  in  the  in- 
tervals of  siege  and  combat,  passed  their  days  impa- 
tiently, thinking  of  the  distant  homes  from  which  they 
came,  and  muttering  their  discontent  at  inaction  and 
uncertainty.  The  region  round  the  junction  of  Lake 
George  and  Lake  Champlaiu,  where  stood  the  strong- 
holds of  Fort  Edward  and  Fort  William  Henry,  of 
Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga,  was  the  scene  of  many 
desperate  conflicts,  between  1758  and  1780;  and  the 
wolves  of  the  forest,  and  the  bears  of  the  Vermont 
mountains,  were  disturbed  in  their  lairs  by  the  tumults 
and  the  restless  evolutions,  and  wandered  eastward 
until  they  came  among  the  startled  hamlets  and  fron- 
tier farms  of  the  settlements.  The  savagery  of  man, 
surpassing  theirs,  drove  them  to  seek  shelter  amid  the 
abodes  of  man  himself;  but  there  was  no  safety  for 
them  there,  as  many  a  bloody  head  and  paws,  trophies 
of  rustic  marksmanship,  attested.  The  dominion  of 
the  wilderness  was  approaching  its  end  in  America. 
Everywhere  you  might  hear  the  roll  of  the  drum,  and 

318 


THE    PLAINS   OF   ABRAHAM 

there  was  no  family  but  had  its  soldier,  and  few  that 
did  not  have  their  dead.  There  were  a  score  of  thou- 
sand British  troops  in  the  northern  provinces,  and 
every  week  brought  rumors  and  alarms,  and  portents 
of  victory  or  defeat.  The  haggard  postrider  came  gal- 
loping in  with  news  from  north  and  west,  which  the 
throng  of  anxious  village  folks  gather  to  hear.  There 
have  been  skirmishes,  successes,  retreats,  surprises, 
massacres,  retaliations;  there  is  news  from  Niagara 
and  Oswego  on  far-away  Lake  Ontario,  and  echoes  of 
the  guns  at  Ticonderoga.  There  are  proclamations  for 
enlistment,  and  requisitions  for  ammunition;  and  the 
tailors  in  the  towns  are  busy  cutting  out  scarlet  uni- 
forms and  decorating  them  with  gold  braid.  Markets 
for  the  supply  of  troops  are  established  in  the  woods, 
far  from  any  settled  habitations,  where  shrewd  farmers 
bargain  with  the  hungry  soldiery  for  carcasses  of  pigs 
and  beeves,  and  for  disheveled  hens  from  distant  farm- 
yards; the  butcher's  shop  is  kept  under  the  spreading 
branches  of  the  trees,  from  whose  low  limbs  dangle 
the  tempting  wares,  and  a  stump  serves  as  a  chopping 
block.  Under  the  shrubbery,  where  the  sun  cannot  pene- 
trate, are  stored  homemade  firkins  full  of  yellow  butter, 
and  great  cheeses,  and  heaps  of  substantial  home-baked 
bread.  Kegs  of  hard  cider  and  spruce  beer  and  per- 
haps more  potent  brews  are  abroach,  and  behind  the 
haggling  and  jesting  and  bustle  you  may  catch  the 
sound  of  muskets  or  the  whoop  of  the  Indians  from 
afar.  Meanwhile,  in  the  settlements,  all  manner  of  in- 
dustries were  stimulated,  and  a  great  number  of 
women  throughout  the  country,  left  to  take  care  of 
their  children  and  themselves  by  the  absence  of  their 
menfolk,  went  into  business  of  all  kinds,  and  drove  a 
thriving  trade.  Lotteries  were  also  popular,  the  pro- 
moters retaining  a  good  share  of  the  profits  after  the 
nominal  object  of  the  transaction  had  been  attained. 
It  was  well  that  the  war  operations  were  carried  on 
far  from  the  populous  regions,  so  that  only  the  fighters 
themselves  were  involved  in  the  immediate  conse- 
quences. The  battle  was  for  the  homes  of  posterity, 
where  as  vet  the  woodman's  ax  had  never  been  heard, 

319 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

except  to  provide  defenses  against  death,  instead  of 
habitations  for  life.  Those  who  could  not  go  to  the  war 
sat  round  the  broad  country  hearthstones  at  night,  with 
the  fire  of  logs  leaping  up  the  great  cavern  of  the  chim- 
ney, telling  stories  of  past  exploits,  speculating  as  to 
the  present,  praying  perhaps  for  the  future,  and  paus- 
ing now  and  then  to  listen  to  strange  noises  abroad  in 
the  night-ridden  sky — strains  of  ghostly  music  playing 
a  march  or  a  charge,  or  the  thunder  of  phantom  guns. 
Governor  Shirley,  who  while  in  France  in  1749  had 
married  a  French  wife  and  brought  her  home  with  him, 
and  who  for  a  while  had  the  chief  command  of  the  King's 
forces  in  America,  was  in  disfavor  with  the  people,  who 
suspected  his  wife  of  sending  treasonable  news  to  the 
enemy ;  and  having  also  proved  inefficient  as  a  soldier, 
he  was  recalled  to  England  in  1756,  and  vanished  thence- 
forth  as  a  factor  in  American  affairs,  in  which  his 
influence  had  always  been  selfish  and  illiberal,  if  not 
worse.  Thomas  Pownall  succeeded  him  and  held  his 
position  for  three  years,  when  he  was  transferred  to 
South  Carolina.  He  was  a  man  of  fashion,  and  of  little 
weight.  From  the  shuffle  of  men  who  appeared  and  dis- 
appeared during  the  early  years  of  the  war,  a  few  stand 
out  in  permanent  distinctness.  Washington's  reputa- 
tion steadily  increased;  Amherst,  Wolfe,  and  Lyman 
achieved  distinction  on  the  English  side,  and  Mont- 
calm  and  Dieskau  on  the  French.  In  1757,  General 
Loudoun,  one  of  the  agents  of  the  despoiling  of  Acadia, 
made  a  professed  attempt  to  capture  Louisburg,  which 
had  been  given  back  to  the  French  at  the  last  peace; 
but  after  wasting  a  summer  in  vain  drilling  of  his 
forces,  retired  in  dismay  on  learning  that  the  French 
fleet  outnumbered  his  own  by  one  vessel.  The  place 
was  bombarded  and  taken  the  next  year  by  Amherst 
and  Wolfe,  but  Halifax  was  the  English  headquarters 
in  that  region.  Before  this,  however,  in  the  summer  of 
1755,  immediately  after  the  defeat  of  Braddock,  an 
army  of  New  Englanders  assembled  at  Albany  to  cap- 
ture Crown  Point,  where  the  French  had  called  to- 
gether every  able-bodied  man  available.  William  John- 
son was  commander,  and  associated  with  him  was 

320 


- 


•J 

3 
ji 


THE    PLAINS    OF    ABRAHAM 

Phiiiehas  Lyman,  a  natural-born  soldier.  They  marched 
to  the  southern  shore  of  what  the  French  called  the 
Lake  of  the  Holy  Sacrament,  but  which  Johnson 
thought  would  better  be  named  Lake  George.  The 
army,  with  its  Indian  allies,  numbered  about  thirty- 
four  hundred;  a  camping  ground  was  cleared,  but  no 
intrenchments  were  thrown  up;  no  enemy  seemed  to 
be  within  reach.  Dieskau,  informed  of  the  advance, 
turned  from  his  design  against  Oswego  in  the  west, 
and  marched  for  Fort  Edward,  in  the  rear  of  John- 
son's troops.  By  a  mistake  of  the  guide  he  found  him- 
self approaching  the  open  camp.  Johnson  sent  a  Massa- 
chusetts man,  Ephraim  Williams,  with  a  thousand 
troops,  to  save  Fort  Edward.  They  nearly  fell  into  an 
ambush ;  as  it  was,  their  party  was  overpowered  by  the 
enemy ;  Williams  was  killed,  but  Whiting  of  Connecti- 
cut guarded  the  retreat.  During  the  action,  a  redoubt 
of  logs  had  been  constructed  in  the  camp,  and  was 
strengthened  with  baggage  and  wagons.  The  Ameri- 
cans, with  their  fowling  pieces,  defended  this  place  for 
five  hours  against  two  hundred  regular  French  troops, 
six  hundred  Canadians,  and  as  many  Indians.  Johnson 
received  a  scratch  early  in  the  engagement,  and  made 
it  an  excuse  to  retire;  and  Lyman  assumed  direction. 
Dieskau  bravely  led  the  French  regulars,  nearly  all  of 
whom  were  killed;  he  was  four  times  wounded;  the 
Canadians  were  intimidated.  At  length,  about  half 
past  four  in  the  afternoon,  the  French  retreated,  though 
the  American  losses  equaled  theirs;  a  body  of  them 
were  pursued  by  Macginnes  of  New  Hampshire  and  left 
their  baggage  behind  them  in  their  haste;  but  the  body 
of  Macgiunes  also  remained  on  the  field.  The  credit 
for  this  battle,  won  by  Lyman,  was  given  by  the  Eng- 
lish Government  to  Johnson,  who  received  a  baronetcy 
and  a  "tip"  of  five  thousand  pounds.  It  would  have 
been  the  first  step  in  a  series  of  successes  had  not  John- 
son, instead  of  following  up  his  victory,  timidly  re- 
mained in  camp,  building  Fort  William  Henry;  and 
when  winter  approached,  he  disbanded  the  New  Eng- 
landers  and  retired.  The  French  had  taken  advantage 
of  their  opportunity  to  intrench  themselves  in  Ticon- 
U.S.— 11  VOL.  I  321 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

deroga,  which  was  destined  to  become  a  name  of  awe 
for  the  colonists.  At  the  same  time  that  Braddock 
marched  on  Fort  Duquesne,  Shirley  had  set  out  with 
two  thousand  men  to  capture  the  fort  at  Niagara,  gar- 
risoned by  but  thirty  ill-armed  men ;  the  intention  be- 
ing to  form  a  junction  there  with  the  all-conquering 
Braddock.  The  latter's  annihilation  took  all  the  heart 
out  of  the  superserviceable  Shirley;  he  got  no  further 
than  Oswego,  where  he  frittered  the  summer  away,  and 
then  retreated  under  a  cloud  of  pretexts.  He  and  the 
other  royal  officials  were  all  this  while  pleading  for  a 
general  fund  to  be  created  by  Parliament,  or  in  any 
other  manner,  so  that  a  fund  there  be;  and  asserting 
that  the  frontiers  would  otherwise  be,  and  in  fact  were, 
defenseless.  In  the  face  of  such  tales  the  colonies  were 
of  their  own  motion  providing  all  the  necessary  sup- 
plies for  war,  and  Franklin  had  taken  personal  charge 
of  the  northwest  border.  But  the  English  ministry  saw 
in  these  measures  only  increasing  peril  from  popular 
power,  and  pushed  forward  a  scheme  for  a  military 
dictatorship.  In  May,  1756,  war  was  formally  declared, 
and  England  arbitrarily  forbade  other  nations  to  carry 
French  merchandise  in  their  ships.  Abercrombie  was 
chosen  general  for  the  prosecution  of  the  campaign  in 
America,  and  arrived  at  Albany,  after  much  dilatori- 
ness  in  June.  Bradstreet  reported  that  he  had  put 
stores  into  Oswego  for  five  thousand  men ;  and  that  the 
place  was  already  threatened  by  the  enemy.  Still  the 
English  delayed.  Montcalm  arrived  at  Quebec  to  lead 
the  French  army,  and  immediately  planned  the  cap- 
ture of  Oswego.  In  August  he  took  an  outlying  redoubt, 
and  the  garrison  of  Oswego  surrendered  just  as  he  was 
about  to  open  fire  upon  it.  Sixteen  hundred  prisoners, 
over  a  hundred  cannon,  stores,  boats,  and  money  were 
the  prize;  and  Montcalm  destroyed  the  fort  and  re- 
turned in  triumph.  Loudoun  and  Abercrombie,  with 
an  army  of  thousands  of  men,  which  could  have  taken 
Canada  with  ease,  thought  only  of  keeping  out  of  Mont- 
calm's  way,  pleading  in  excuse  that  they  feared  to  trust 
the  "provincials" — who  had  thus  far  done  all  the  fight- 
ing that  had  been  done,  and  won  all  the  successes.  In 

322 


THE    PLAINS    OF   ABRAHAM 

spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  the  civic  authorities,  the 
British  troops  and  officers  were  billeted  upon  New  York 
and  Philadelphia.  Two  more  frightened  generals  were 
never  seen;  and  the  provinces  were  left  open  to  the 
enemy's  attack.  But  the  Americans  took  the  war  into 
their  own  hands.  John  Armstrong  of  Cumberland 
County,  Pennsylvania,  crossed  the  Alleghenies  in  Sep- 
tember, and  in  a  desperate  fight  destroyed  an  Indian 
tribe  that  had  been  massacring  along  the  border, 
burned  their  town  and  blew  up  their  powder.  In 
January  of  1757,  Stark,  a  daring  ranger,  with  seventy 
men,  made  a  dash  on  Lake  George,  and  engaged  a  party 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty  French.  About  the  same  time, 
at  Philadelphia  and  Boston,  it  was  voted  to  raise  men 
for  the  service;  a  hundred  thousand  pounds  was  also 
voted,  but  the  proprietors  refused  to  pay  their  quota, 
and  represented  in  England  that  the  Pennsylvauians 
were  obstructing  the  measures  for  defense.  Franklin, 
sent  to  England  to  remonstrate,  was  told  that  the  King 
was  the  legislator  of  the  colonies.  All  action  was  par- 
alyzed by  the  corruption  and  cowardice  of  the  royal 
officials.  The  pusillanimity  of  Loudoun,  with  his  ten 
thousand  men  and  powerful  fleet  in  Nova  Scotia,  has 
been  already  mentioned.  In  July  Montcalm,  with  a 
mixed  force  of  more  than  seven  thousand,  advanced 
upon  Fort  William  Henry.  Webb,  who  should  have 
opposed  him,  retreated,  leaving  Monro  with  five  hun- 
dred men  to  hold  the  fort.  He  refused  Montcalm's 
summons  to  surrender;  Webb,  who  might  still  have 
saved  him,  refused  to  do  so;  he  fought  until  his 
ammunition  was  gone  and  half  his  guns  burst,  and  then 
surrendered  upon  Montcalm's  promise  of  the  honors 
of  war  and  an  escort  out  of  the  country.  But  the  In- 
dians had  got  rum  from  the  English  stores  and  passed 
the  night  in  drunken  revelry;  in  the  morning  they  set 
upon  the  unarmed  English  as  they  left  the  fort,  and  be- 
gan to  plunder  and  tomahawk  them.  Montcalm  and 
his  officers  did  their  utmost  to  stop  the  treacherous 
outrage;  but  thirty  men  were  murdered.  Montcalm 
has  been  treated  leniently  by  history;  he  was  indeed 
a  brilliant  and  heroic  soldier,  and  he  had  the  crowning 

323 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

honor  of  dying  bravely  at  Quebec;  but  he  cannot  be 
held  blameless  in  this  affair.  He  had  taught  the  In- 
dians that  he  was  as  one  of  themselves,  had  omitted  no 
means  of  securing  their  amity;  had  danced  and  sung 
with  them  and  smiled  approvingly  on  their  butcherings 
and  scalpings;  and  he  had  no  right  to  imagine  that 
they  would- believe  him  sincere  in  his  promise  to  spare 
the  prisoners.  It  was  too  late  for  him  to  cry  "Kill  me, 
but  spare  them!"  after  the  massacre  had  commenced. 
It  was  his  duty  to  have  taken  measures  to  render  such 
a  thing  impossible  beforehand.  He  had  touched  pitch, 
and  was  defiled. 

Disgrace  and  panic  reigned  among  all  the  English 
commanders.  Webb  whimpered  to  be  allowed  to  fall 
back  on  the  Hudson  with  his  six  thousand  men; 
Loudoun  cowered  in  New  York  with  his  large  army, 
and  could  think  of  no  better  way  of  defending  the 
northwest  frontier  than  by  intrenching  himself  on 
Long  Island.  There  was  not  an  Englishman  in  the  Ohio 
or  the  St.  Lawrence  Basins.  Everywhere  beyond  the 
narrow  strip  of  the  colonies  the  French  were  para- 
mount. In  Europe,  England's  position  was  almost  as 
contemptible.  Such  was  the  result  of  the  attempt  of 
the  aristocracy  to  rule  England.  There  was  only  one 
man  who  could  save  England,  and  he  was  an  old  man, 
poor,  a  commoner,  and  sick  almost  to  death.  But  in 
1757  William  Pitt  was  called  to  the  English  helm,  ac- 
cepted the  responsibility,  and  steered  the  country  from 
her  darkest  to  her  most  brilliant  hour.  The  campaigns 
which  drove  the  soldiers  of  Louis  XV  out  of  America 
were  the  first  chapter  of  the  movement  which  ended  in 
the  expulsion  of -the  British  from  the  territory  of  the 
United  States.  Catholicism  and  Protestantism  were 
arrayed  against  each  other  for  the  last  time.  Pitt  was 
the  man  of  the  people;  his  ambition,  though  generous, 
was  as  great  as  his  abilities ;  the  colonies  knew  him  as 
their  friend.  "I  can  save  this  country,  and  nobody 
else  can,"  he  said ;  and  bent  his  final  energies  to  making 
England  the  foremost  nation  in  the  world,  and  the 
most  respected.  The  faith  of  Rome  allied  France  with 
Austria ;  and  Prussia,  with  Frederick  the  Great,  stand- 

324 


THE    PLAINS    OF   ABRAHAM 

ing  as  the  sole  bulwark  of  Protestantism  on  the  con- 
tinent, was  inevitably  drawn  toward  England. 

With  one  movement  of  his  all-powerful  hand,  Pitt 
reversed  the  oppressive  and  suicidal  policy  of  the 
colonial  administration.  Loudoun  was  recalled;  his 
excuses  were  vain.  Amherst  and  Wolfe  were  sent  out. 
The  colonies  were  told  that  no  compulsion  should  be 
put  upon  them ;  they  were  expected  to  levy,  clothe  and 
pay  their  men,  but  the  Government  would  repay  their 
outlay.  Instantly  they  responded,  and  their  contribu- 
tions exceeded  all  anticipation.  Massachusetts  taxed 
herself  thirteen  and  fourpence  in  the  pound.  Provincial 
officers  not  above  colonel  ranked  with  the  British,  and 
a  new  spirit  animated  all.  On  the  other  hand,  Canada 
suffered  from  famine,  and  Montcalm  foresaw  eventual 
defeat.  Amherst  and  Wolfe,  with  ten  thousand  men, 
captured  Louisburg  and  destroyed  the  fortifications. 
At  the  same  time,  a  great  army  was  collected  against 
Ticonderoga.  Nine  thousand  provincials,  with  Stark, 
Israel  Putnam,  and  six  hundred  New  England  rangers, 
camped  side  by  side  with  over  six  thQusand  troops  of 
the  British  regulars  under  Abercrombie  and  Lord 
Howe.  The  French  under  Montcalm  had  erected  Fort 
Carillon  on  the  outlet  from  Lake  George  to  Cham- 
plain,  approachable  only  from  the  northwest.  It  was 
here  that  he  planned  his  defense.  The  English  disem- 
barked on  the  west  side  of  the  lake,  protected  by  Point 
Howe.  In  marching  round  the  bend  they  came  upon  a 
French  party  of  three  hundred  and  defeated  them, 
Howe  falling  in  the  first  attack.  Montcalm  wras  be- 
hind intrenchments  with  thirty-six  hundred  men ;  Aber- 
crombie rashly  gave  orders  to  carry  the  works  by  storm 
without  waiting  for  cannon,  but  was  careful  to  re- 
main far  in  the  rear  during  the  action.  The  attack  was 
most  gallantly  and  persistently  delivered;  nearly  two 
thousand  men,  mostly  regulars,  were  killed;  and,  at 
the  end  of  the  murderous  day,  Montcalm  remained 
master  of  the  field.  Abercrombie  still  had  four  times 
as  man  men  as  Montcalm,  and  with  his  artillery  could 
easily  have  carried  the  works  and  captured  Ticon- 
deroga; but  he  was  by  this  time  "distilled  almost  to 'a 

325 


jelly  by  the  act  of  fear"  and  fled  headlong  at  once. 
Montcalin  had  not  yet  met  his  match. 

Bradstreet,  however,  with  seven  hundred  Massa- 
chusetts men  and  eleven  hundred  New  Yorkers, 
crossed  Lake  Ontario  and  took  Fort  Frontenac,  the 
garrison  fleeing  at  their  approach.  Amherst,  on  hearing 
of  Abercrombie's  cowardice,  embarked  for  Boston  with 
over  four  thousand  men,  marched  thence  to  Albany 
and  on  to  the  camp ;  Abercrombie  was  sent  to  England, 
and  Amherst  took  his  place  as  chief.  The  capture  of 
Fort  Duquesne  was  the  first  thing  planned.  Over 
forty-five  hundred  men  were  raised  in  South  Carolina, 
Pennsylvania  and  Virginia;  Joseph  Forbes  commanded 
them  as  brigadier-general;  Washington  led  the  Vir- 
ginians ;  John  Armstrong  and  the  boy,  Anthony  Wayne, 
were  with  the  Pennsylvanians.  Washington,  who  had 
clad  part  of  his  men  in  Indian  deerskins,  wanted  to 
follow  Braddock's  line  of  march ;  but  Forbes,  who  had 
not  long  to  live,  though  his  brain  remained  clear,  pre- 
ferred to  build  a  road  by  which  ready  communication 
with  Philadelphia  could  be  kept  up.  Washington  got 
news  that  the  Fort  had  but  eight  hundred  defenders, 
and  a  strong  recounoissance  was  sent  forward,  without 
his  knowledge,  under  Major  Grant,  who,  thinking  he 
had  the  French  at  advantage,  exposed  himself  and  was 
defeated  with  a  loss  of  three  hundred.  The  remaining 
five  hundred  reached  camp  in  good  order,  thanks  to 
the  discipline  which  had  been  given  them  by  Washing- 
ton. Forbes  had  decided  to  advance  no  further  that 
season — it  was  then  November;  but  Washington  had 
information  which  caused  him  to  gain  permission  to 
advance  with  twenty-five  hundred  provincials,  and  he 
occupied  intrenchments  near  Duquesne.  Nine  days 
later  the  rest  of  the  army  arrived;  and  the  garrison 
of  the  Fort  set  fire  to  it  at  night  and  fled.  The  place 
was  entered  by  the  troops,  Armstrong  raised  the  Brit- 
ish flag,  and  at  Forbes's  suggestion  it  was  rechristened 
Pittsburgh.  And  there,  above  the  confluence  of  the  two 
rivers,  the  city  named  after  the  Great  Commoner  stands 
to-day.  A  vast  and  fertile  country  was  thenceforward 
opened  to  the  east.  After  burying  the  bleaching  bones 

326 


THE    PLAINS    OF    ABRAHAM 

of  the  men  killed  under  Braddock,  a  garrison  was  left 
on  the  spot,  and  the  rest  of  the  army  returned. 

Washington,  who  had  seen  five  years'  arduous  service, 
resigned  his  commission,  and  after  receiving  cordial 
honors  from  his  fellow  officers  and  the  Virginia  Legis- 
lature, married  the  widow,  Martha  Custis,  and  settled, 
down  as  a  planter  in  Mount  Vernon.  He  was  a  dele- 
gate to  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  and  to  the  Con- 
tinental Congresses  of  1774  and  1775;  but  it  was  not 
until  the  later  year  that  he  reappeared  as  a  soldier,  ac- 
cepting the  command  of  the  Continental  forces  on  the 
15th  of  June,  not  against  the  French,  but  against  the 
English. 

In  1759  the  genius  and  spirit  of  Pitt  began  to  be 
fully  felt.  The  English  were  triumphant  in  Europe,  and 
a  comprehensive  plan  for  the  conquest  of  Canada  was 
intrusted  for  the  first  time  to  men  capable  of  carrying 
it  out.  Thousands  of  men  were  enlisted  and  paid  for 
by  the  colonies  north  of  Maryland.  Stanwix,  Amherst, 
Prideaux,  and  Wolfe  were  the  chiefs  in  command.  Fifty 
thousand  English  and  provincial  troops  were  opposed 
by  not  more  than  an  eighth  as  many  half-starved 
Frenchmen  and  Canadians.  Montcalm  had  no  illu- 
sions ;  he  told  the  French  Minister  of  War  that,  barring 
extraordinary  accidents,  Canada's  hour  had  come;  but 
he  "was  resolved  to  find  his  grave  under  the  ruins  of 
the  colony."  And  young  General  Wolfe  had  said,  on 
being  given  the  department  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  "I  feel 
called  upon  to  justify  the  notice  taken  of  me  by  such 
exertions  and  exposure  of  myself  as  will  probably  lead 
to  my  fall."  The  premonitions  of  both  these  valiant 
soldiers  were  fulfilled.  Wolfe  was  at  this  time  thirty- 
two  years  of  age,  and  had  spent  half  his  life  in  the 
army.  The  Marquis  de  Montcalm  was  forty-seven  when 
he  fell  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham.  Neither  general  had 
been  defeated  up  to  the  moment  they  faced  each  other ; 
neither  could  succumb  to  any  less  worthy  adversary. 

But  the  first  objective  point  was  not  Quebec,  but 
Fort  Niagara,  which,  standing  between  Erie  and  On- 
tario, commanded  the  fur  trade  of  the  country  to  the 
west.  Prideaux,  with  an  adequate  force  of  English, 

327 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Americans,  and  Indians,  invested  the  place  in  July, 
D'Aubry,  the  French  commander,  bringing  up  twelve 
hundred  men  to  relieve  it.  Just  before  the  action, 
Prideaux  was  killed  by  the  bursting  of  a  mountain 
howitzer,  but  Sir  William  Johnson  was  at  hand  to 
take  his  place.  On  the  24th  the  battle  took  place;  the 
French  were  flanked  by  the  English  Indians,  and 
charged  by  the  English;  they  broke  and  fled,  and  the 
Fort  surrendered  next  day.  Stanwix  had  meanwhile 
taken  possession  of  all  the  French  posts  between  Pitts- 
burgh and  Erie.  The  English  had  got  their  enemy  on 
the  run  all  along  the  line.  Gage  was  the  only  English 
officer  to  disgrace  himself  in  this  campaign;  he 
squirmed  out  of  compliance  with  Amherst's  order  to 
occupy  the  passes  of  Ogdeusburg.  Amherst,  with 
artillery  and  eleven  thousand  men,  advanced  on  the 
hitherto  invincible  Ticonderoga.  The  French  knew 
they  were  beaten,  and  therefore,  instead  of  fighting, 
abandoned  the  famous  stronghold  and  Crown  Point, 
and  retreated  down  to  Isle  aux  Nois,  whither  Amherst 
should  have  followed  them.  Instead  of  doing  so,  he 
took  to  building  and  repairing  fortifications — the  last 
infirmity  of  military  minds  of  a  certain  order — and 
finally  went  into  winter  quarters  with  nothing  further 
done.  Amherst,  at  the  end  of  the  war,  received  the 
routine  rewards  of  a  well-meaning  and  not  defeated 
commander  in  chief;  but  it  was  Wolfe  who  won  im- 
mortality. 

He  collected  his  force  of  eight  thousand  men,  includ- 
ing two  battalions  of  "Royal  Americans,"  at  Louis- 
burg;  among  his  ship  captains  was  Cook  the  explorer; 
Lieutenant  Colonel  Howe  commanded  a  body  of  light 
infantry.  Before  the  end  of  June  the  army  stepped 
ashore  on  the  island  that  fills  the  channel  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  below  Quebec,  called  the  Isle  of  Orleans. 
Montcalm's  camp  was  between  them  and  the  tall  ac- 
clivity on  which  stood  the  famous  fortress,  which  had 
defied  capture  for  a  hundred  and  thirty  years.  The 
French  outnumbered  the  English,  but  neither  the  phys- 
ical condition  nor  the  morale  of  their  troops  was  good. 
That  beetling  cliff  was  the  ally  on  which  Montcalm 

328 


THE    PLAINS    OF   ABRAHAM 

most  depended.  All  the  landing  places  up  stream  for 
nine  miles  had  been  fortified:  the  small  river  St. 
Charles  covered  with  its  sedgy  marshes  the  approach 
on  the  north  and  east,  while  on  the  west  another 
stream,  the  Montmorenci,  rising  nearly  at  the  same 
place  as  the  St.  Charles,  falls  in  cataracts  into  the 
St.  Lawrence  nine  miles  above  the  citadel.  All  these 
natural  features  had  been  improved  by  military  art. 
High  up,  north  and  west  of  the  city,  spread  the  broad 
Plains  of  Abraham. 

Wolfe's  fleet  commanded  the  river  and  the  south 
shore.  Point  Levi,  on  this  shore,  opposite  Quebec,  was 
fortified  by  the  English,  and  siege  guns  were  mounted 
there,  the  channel  being  but  a  mile  wide;  the  lower 
town  could  be  reached  by  the  red-hot  balls,  but  not  the 
lofty  citadel.  After  personally  examining  the  region 
during  the  greater  part  of  July,  Wolfe  decided  on  a 
double  attack;  one  party  to  ford  the  Montmorenci, 
which  was  practicable  at  a  certain  hour  of  the  tide,  and 
the  other  to  cross  over  in  boats  from  Point  Levi.  But 
the  boats  grounded  on  some  rocks  in  the  channel ;  and 
Wolfe  was  repulsed  at  the  Montmorenci.  Four  hun- 
dred men  were  lost.  An  expedition  was  now  sent  up 
stream  to  open  communication  with  Amherst;  but 
though  it  was  learned  that  Niagara,  Crown  Point  and 
Ticonderoga  had  fallen,  Amherst  did  not  appear.  Wolfe 
must  do  his  work  alone;  the  entire  population  of  the 
country  was  against  him,  and  the  strongest  natural 
fortification  in  the  world.  His  eager  anxiety  threw  him 
into  a  fever.  "My  constitution  is  entirely  ruined,  with- 
out the  consolation  of  having  done  any  considerable 
service  to  the  state,  and  without  any  prospect  of  it," 
was  what  he  wrote  to  the  English  Government.  Four 
days  afterward  he  was  dying  victorious  on  the  Plains 
of  Abraham. 

The  early  Canadian  winter  would  soon  be  at  hand. 
The  impossible  must  be  done,  and  at  once.  Wolfe,  after 
several  desperate  proposals  of  his  had  been  rejected  by 
the  council  of  war,  made  a  feint  in  force  up  the  river 
in  the  hope  of  getting  Montcalm  where  he  could  fight 
him.  He  scrutinized  the  precipitous  north  shore  as 

329 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

with  a  magnifying  glass.  At  last,  on  the  llth  of  Sep- 
tember, the  hope  that  had  so  long  been  burning  within 
him  was  gratified.  By  what  a  hope!  A  headlong  goat 
track  cleft  its  zigzag  way  upon  the  awful  steep  and 
emerged  at  last  upon  the  dizzy  and  breathless  height 
above.  Two  men  could  scarce  climb  abreast  in  it ;  and 
even  this  was  defended  by  fortifications,  and  at  the 
summit,  against  the  sky,  tents  could  be  seen.  Yet  this 
was  the  only  way  to  victory:  only  by  this  heartbreak- 
ing path  could  England  drive  France  from  the  western 
continent  and  give  a  mighty  nation  to  the  world.  Wolfe 
saw  and  was  content;  where  one  man  could  go  thou- 
sands mighty  follow.  And  he  perceived  that  the  very 
difficulty  of  the  enterprise  was  the  best  assurance  of 
its  success.  The  place  .was  defended  indeed,  but  not 
strongly.  Montcalm  knew  what  daring  could  accom- 
plish, but  even  he  had  not  dreamed  of  daring  such  as 
this.  Wolfe,  with  a  great  soul  kindled  into  flame  by 
the  resolve  to  achieve  a  feat  almost  beyond  mortal  limi- 
tations, dared  it  and  prevailed. 

Till  the  hour  of  action  he  kept  his  troops  far  up  the 
stream.  By  the  13th  all  preparations  were  made.  Night 
came  on  calm  like  the  heart  of  the  hero  who  knows 
that  the  culminating  moment  of  his  destiny  has  arrived. 
At  such  a  crisis  the  mortal  part  of  the  man  is  trans- 
figured by  the  towering  spirit,  and  his  eyes  pierce 
through  the  veils  of  things.  His  life  lies  beneath  him 
and  he  contemplates  its  vicissitudes  with  the  high  tran- 
quillity of  an  immortal  freedom.  What  is  death  to  him 
who  has  already  triumphed  over  the  fetters  of  the  flesh 
and  tasted  the  drink  of  immortality?  He  is  the  trustee 
of  the  purpose  of  God,  and  the  guerdon  his  deed  deserves 
can  be  nothing  less  noble  than  to  die. 

It  was  at  one  in  the  morning  that  the  adventure  was 
begun.  Silently  the  boats  moved  down  the  stream,  the 
dark  ships  following  in  silence.  Thousands  of  brave 
hearts  beat  with  heroic  resolve  beneath  the  eternal 
stars.  The  shadowy  cove  was  gained ;  Wolfe's  foot  has 
touched  the  shore;  as  the  armed  figures  follow  and 
gather  at  the  foot  of  the  ascent,  no  words  are  spoken, 
but  what  an  eloquence  in  those  faces!  Upward  they 

330 


THE    PLAINS    OF    ABRAHAM 

climb,  afire  with  zeal;  Howe  has  won  a  battery!  up- 
ward !  the  picket  on  the  height,  too  late  aroused  from 
sleep  by  the  stern  miracle,  is  overpowered.  With  pant- 
ing lungs  man  after  man  tops  the  ascent  and  sees  the 
darkling  plain  and  forms  in  line  with  his  comrades, 
while  still  the  stream  winds  up  endlessly  from  the 
depths  below.  The  earth  is  giving  birth  to  an  army. 
Coiling  upward,  deploying,  ranging  out,  rank  after 
rank  they  are  extended  along  the  front  of  the  forest, 
with  Quebec  before  them.  No  drum  has  beat;  no  bugle 
has  spoken;  but  Wolfe  is  there,  his  spirit  is  in  five 
thousand  breasts,  and  there  needs  no  trumpet  for  the 
battle. 

As  the  last  of  the  army  formed  upon  the  rugged 
field,  dawn  broke  upon  the  east,  and  soon  the  early 
sunshine  sparkled  on  their  weapons  and  glowed  along 
the  ranks  of  English  red.  Meanwhile  Montcalm  had 
been  apprised ;  his  first  instinct  of  incredulity  had  been 
swept  away  by  the  inevitable  truth,  and  he  manned 
himself  for  the  struggle.  Often  had  he  conquered 
against  odds;  but  now  his  spirit  must  bow  before  a 
spirit  stronger  than  his,  as  Antony's  before  Augustus. 
And  what  had  he  to  oppose  against  the  seasoned  vet- 
erans of  the  English  army,  thrice  armed  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  their  unparalleled  achievement?  Five 
weak  and  astounded  battalions  and  a  horde  of  inchoate 
peasants.  But  Montcalm  did  not  falter;  by  ten  he  had 
taken  up  his  position,  and  by  eleven,  after  some  in- 
effectual cannonading,  to  allow  time  for  the  arrival  of 
reenforcements  which  came  not,  he  led  the  charge.  The 
attack  was  disordered  by  the  uneven  ground,  the  fences, 
and  the  ravines;  and  it  was  broken  by  the  granite  front 
of  the  English  (three-fourths  of  them  Americans)  and 
their  long-reserved  and  withering  fire.  The  undisci- 
plined Canadians  flinched  from  that  certain  death ;  and 
Wolfe,  advancing  on  them  with  his  grenadiers,  saw 
them  melt  away  before  the  cold  steel  could  reach  them. 
The  two  leaders  faced  each  other,  both  equally  un- 
daunted and  alert;  it  was  like  a  duel  between  them; 
no  opening  was  missed,  no  chance  neglected.  The 
smoke  hung  in  the  still  air  of  moaning;  the  long  lines 

331 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

of  men  swayed  and  undulated  beneath  it  obscurely,  and 
the  roar  of  musketry  dinned  terribly  in  the  air,  here 
slackening  for  a  moment,  there  breaking  forth  in  vol- 
leying thunders;  and  men  were  dropping  everywhere; 
there  were  shoutings  from  the  captains,  the  fierce  crash 
of  cheers,  yells  of  triumph  or  agony,  and  the  faint 
groans  of  the  wounded  unto  death.  Wolfe  was  hit,  but 
he  did  not  heed  it;  Montcalm  has  received  a  musket 
ball,  but  he  cannot  yet  die.  The  English  battle  does 
not  yield;  it  advances,  the  light  of  victory  is  upon  it. 
Backward  stagger  the  French;  Montcalm  strives  to 
check  the  fatal  movement,  but  the  flying  death  has  torn 
its  way  through  his  body,  and  he  can  no  more.  Wolfe, 
even  as  the  day  was  won,  got  his  death  wound  in  the 
breast,  but  "Support  me — don't  let  my  brave  fellows 
see  me  drop,"  he  gasped  out.  His  thoughts  were  with 
his  army ;  let  the  retreat  of  the  enemy  be  cut  off ;  and 
he  died  with  a  happy  will  and  with  God's  name  on  his 
lips.  Montcalm  lingered,  suggesting  means  by  which 
to  retrieve  the  day ;  but  the  power  of  France  died  with 
him.  Quebec  was  lost  and  won;  and  human  history 
was  turned  into  a  new  channel,  and  no  longer  flowing 
through  the  caverns  of  medieval  error,  rolled  its  cur- 
rent toward  the  sunlight  of  liberty  and  progress.  "The 
more  a  man  is  versed  in  business,  the  more  he  finds 
the  hand  of  Providence  everywhere,"  was  the  reply  of 
William  Pitt  when  Parliament  congratulated  him  on 
the  victory.  He  had  wrought  his  plans  with  wisdom 
and  zeal ;  but  "except  the  Lord  build  the  city,  they  labor 
in  vain  who  build  it."  There  have  been  great  states- 
men and  brave  soldiers  before  Pitt  and  Wolfe  and  since, 
but  there  could  be  only  one  fall  of  Quebec  with  all 
which  that  implied. 

The  following  spring  and  summer  were  overshadowed 
by  an  unrighteous  war  against  the  Cherokees,  precipi- 
tated by  the  royalist  Governor  of  Virginia,  Lyttleton. 
An  attempt  by  the  French  under  Levi  to  recapture 
Quebec  failed,  in  spite  of  the  folly  of  the  English  com- 
mander, Murray;  Pitt  had  foreseen  the  effort  and  de- 
stroyed it  with  an  English  fleet.  Amherst,  in  his  own 
tortoiselike  way,  advanced  and  took  possession  of  Mon- 

332 


treal;  and  by  permission  of  the  Indian,  Pontiac,  who 
regarded  himself  as  lord  of  the  country,  the  English 
flag  was  carried  to  the  outposts.  Canada  had  surren- 
dered ;  in  the  terms  imposed,  property  and  the  religious 
faith  of  the  people  were  respected;  but  nothing  was 
promised  them  in  the  way  of  civil  liberty.  In  discuss- 
ing the  European  peace  that  was  now  looked  for,  ques- 
tion was  raised  whether  to  restore  Canada  or  the  West 
Indian  island  of  Guadaloupe  to  France.  Some,  who 
feared  that  the  retention  of  Canada  would  too  much 
incline  the  colonies  to  independence,  favored  its  return. 
But  Franklin  said  that  Canada  would  be  a  source  of 
strength  to  .England.  The  expense  of  defending  that 
vast  frontier  would  be  saved;  the  rapidly  increasing 
population  would  absorb  English  manufactures  with- 
out limit,  and  their  necessary  devotion  to  farming 
would  diminish  their  competition  as  manufacturers. 
He  pointed  out  that  their  differences  in  governments 
and  mutual  jealousies  made  their  united  action  against 
England  unthinkable,  "unless  you  grossly  abuse  them." 
"Very  true:  that,  I  see,  will  happen,"  returned  the 
English  lawyer  Pratt,  afterward  Lord  Camden,  the 
Attorney  General.  But  Pitt  would  not  listen  to  Can- 
ada's being  given  up ;  he  was  for  England,  not  for  any 
English  clique.  On  the  other  hand,  one  of  those  cliques 
was  preparing  to  carry  out  the  long-meditated  taxa- 
tion of  the  colonies;  and  the  sudden  death  of  George 
II,  bringing  his  son  to  the  throne,  favored  their  pur- 
pose; for  the  third  George  had  character  and  energy, 
and  not  a  little  intelligence  for  a  king;  and  he  was 
soon  seen  to  intend  the  reestablishment  of  the  royal 
prerogative  in  all  its  integrity.  As  a  preliminary  step 
to  this  end  he  accepted  Pitt's  resignation  in  October, 
1761. 

Much  to  the  displeasure  of  Massachusetts,  Thomas 
Hutchinson,  already  Judge  of  Probate,  was  by  Gov- 
ernor Bernard  appointed  to  the  Chief  Justiceship  of 
the  colony;  the  royalist  direction  of  his  sympathies 
was  known.  In  February,  1761,  he  heard  argument  in 
court  as  to  whether  revenue  officers  had  power  to  call 
in  executive  assistance  to  enforce  the  acts  of  trade.  The 

333 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Crown  lawyer  argued  that  to  refuse  it  was  to  deny  the 
sovereignty  of  the  English  Parliament  in  the  colonies. 
Then  James  Otis  arose  and  made  a  protest  which 
tingled  through  the  whole  colony,  and  was  the  first 
direct  blow  aimed  against  English  domination.  Power 
such  as  was  asked  for,  be  said,  had  already  cost  one 
king  of  England  his  head  and  another  his  throne. 
Writs  of  assistance  were  open  to  intolerable  abuse; 
were  the  instrument  of  arbitrary  power  and  destruc- 
tive of  the  fundamental  principles  of  law.  Reason  and 
the  Constitution  were  against  them.  "No  act  of  Parlia- 
ment can  establish  such  a  writ:  an  act  of  Parliament 
against  the  Constitution  is  void!"  These  words  were 
the  seed  of  revolution.  Hutchinson  was  frightened,  but 
succeeded  in  persuading  his  colleagues  to  postpone  de- 
cision until  he  had  written  to  England.  The  English 
instruction  was  to  enforce  the  law,  and  the  judges  acted 
accordingly ;  but  the  people  replied  by  electing  Otis  to 
the  Assembly;  and  Hutchinson  was  more  distrusted 
than  ever.  At  the  sfcme  time,  in  Virginia,  Richard 
Henry  Lee  denounced  the  slave  trade;  the  Legislature 
indorsed  his  plea,  but  England  denied  it.  South  Caro- 
lina was  alienated  by  the  same  decree  and  also  by  an 
unpopular  war  against  the  Cherokees.  In  New  York 
the  appointment  of  a  judge  "during  the  King's  pleas- 
ure" roused  the  Assembly;  but  the  result  of  their  re- 
monstrance was  that  all  colonial  governors  were  in- 
structed from  England  to  grant  no  judicial  commis- 
sions but  during  the  King's  pleasure.  This  was  to 
make  the  bench  the  instrument  of  the  prerogative.  A 
judge  acted  on  questions  of  property  without  a  jury 
on  information  furnished  by  Crown  officers,  and  de- 
rived emoluments  from  his  own  award  of  forfeitures; 
and  the  governor  would  favor  large  seizures  because 
he  got  one-third  of  the  spoils.  All  the  assemblies  could 
do  for  the  present  was  to  reduce  salaries ;  but  that  did 
not  make  the  offenders  any  less  avaricious.  Moreover, 
the  King  began  the  practice  of  paying  them  in  spite  of 
the  assemblies,  and  reproved  the  latter  for  "not  being 
animated  by  a  sense  of  their  duty  to  their  King  and 
country." 

334 


THE    PLAINS   OP   ABRAHAM 

•Tames  Otis  continued  to  be  the  voice  of  the  colonies. 
"Kings  were  made  for  the  good  of  the  people,  not  the 
people  for  them.  By  the  laws  of  God  and  nature, 
government  must  not  raise  taxes  on  the  property  of 
the  people  without  the  consent  of  the  people.  To  tax 
without  the  Assembly's  consent  was  the  same  in  prin- 
ciple as  for  the  King  and  the  House  of  Lords  to  usurp 
legislative  authority  in  England."  For  the  utterance 
of  these  sentiments  he  was  honored  by  the  hearty  sup- 
port of  the  people,  and  still  more  by  the  denunciations 
of  men  of  the  Hutchinson  sort.  The  ministers  were  not 
silent  on  the  popular  side.  "May  Heaven  blast  the 
designs,  though  not  the  soul,"  said  Mayhew  with  Chris- 
tian discrimination,  "of  whoever  he  be  among  us  who 
shall  have  the  hardiness  to  attack  the  people's  rights !" 
King  George's  answer,  as  soon  as  he  had  concluded  the 
peace  with  France  and  Spain  in  1763,  was  to  take  meas- 
ures to  terrorize  the  colonists  by  sending  out  an  army 
of  twenty  battalions  to  be  kept  permanently  in  Amer- 
ica, the  expenses  of  which  the  colonists  were  to  pay. 
But  by  enforcing  the  acts  of  trade,  England  had  now 
made  herself  the  enemy  of  the  whole  civilized  world, 
and  the  American  colonies  would  not  be  without  allies 
in  the  struggle  that  was  drawing  near. 

While  these  matters  were  in  agitation  among  the 
white  people,  the  Indians  in  the  north  were  discover-' 
ing  grievances  of  their  own.  Pontiac,  an  Ottawa  chief, 
and  by  his  personal  abilities  the  natural  leader  of  many 
tribes,  was  the  instigator  and  center  of  the  revolt.  The 
English  masters  of  Canada  had  showed  themselves  less 
congenial  to  the  red  men  than  the  French  had  done; 
they  could  not  understand  that  savages  had  any  rights 
which  they  were  bound  to  respect;  while  Pontiac  con- 
ceived that  no  white  man  could  live  in  the  wilderness 
without  his  permission.  Upon  this  issue  trouble  was 
inevitable;  and  Pontiac  planned  a  general  movement 
of  all  the  Indians  in  the  north  against  the  colonists. 
The  success  of  the  scheme  could,  of  course,  be  only 
A  momentary ;  that  it  attained  the  dignity  of  a  "war" 
i  was  due  to  the  influence  and  energy  of  the  Indian 
'  general.  His  design  was  of  broad  scope,  embracing  a 

335 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

simultaneous  attack  on  all  the  English  frontier  forts; 
a  wide  coalition  of  tribes  was  effected;  and  though  their 
tactics  were  not  essentially  different  from  those  here- 
tofore employed  by  savages,  yet  their  possession  of 
arms,  their  skill  in  their  use,  and  their  numbers,  made 
their  onslaughts  formidable.  On  several  occasions  they 
effected  their  entry  into  the  forts  by  stratagem :  a  tale 
of  misery  told  by  a  squaw;  a  ball  in  a  game  struck 
toward  the  door  of  the  stronghold ;  professedly  amica- 
ble conferences  suddenly  becoming  massacres;  such 
were  the  naive  yet  successful  ruses  employed.  Many 
lives  were  lost,  and  the  border  lands  were  laid  waste 
and  panic-stricken ;  but  it  was  impossible  for  the  In- 
dians to  hold  together,  and  their  victories  hastened 
their  undoing.  No  general  engagement,  of  course,  was 
fought,  but  Pontiac's  authority  gradually  abated,  and 
he  was  finally  compelled  to  go  into  retirement.  His 
Conspiracy  has  its  picturesque  side,  but  it  is  not  or- 
ganically related  to  our  history;  it  was  merely  a  fresh 
expression  of  the  familiar  fact  that  there  could  be  no 
sincere  friendship  between  the  white  and  the  red.  The 
former  could  live  with  the  latter  if  they  would  live  like 
them ;  but  no  attempt  to  reverse  the  case  could  succeed. 
The  solemnity  with  which  the  practice  of  signing  trea- 
ties of  peace  with  the  Indians  has  uniformly  been  kept 
up  is  one  of  the  curious  features  of  our  colonial  annals, 
and  indeed  of  later  times.  Indians  will  keep  the  peace 
without  treaties  if  they  are  kindly  used  and  given  lib- 
erty to  do  as  they  please ;  but  no  engagement  is  binding 
on  them  after  they  deem  themselves  wronged.  They  are 
pleased  by  the  formalities,  the  speeches,  and  the  gifts 
that  accompany  such  conferences;  they  like  to  exchange 
compliments  and  to  play  with  belts  of  wampum;  and 
it  is  possible  that  when  they  make  their  promises  they 
think  they  will  keep  them.  They  can  understand  the 
advantages  of  trade,  and  will  make  some  sacrifice  of 
their  pride  or  convenience  to  secure  them.  But  the 
mind  is  never  dominant  in  them ;  the  tides  of  passion 
flood  it,  and  their  wild  nature  carries  them  away.  It 
may  be  surmised  that  we  should  have  had  fewer  Indian 
troubles  had  we  never  entered  into  any  treaty  with 

336 


THE    STAMP    ACT 

them.  But  thousands  of  treaties  have  been  made  and 
broken,  sometimes  by  one  side,  sometimes  by  the  other, 
but  always  by  one  of  the  two.  And  then  punishments 
must  be  administered;  but  if  punishment  is  for  im- 
provement it  has  been  as  ineffective  as  the  treaties. 
The  only  rational  thing  to  do  with  an  Indian  is  to 
kill  him ;  and  yet  it  may  fairly  be  doubted  whether  com- 
plete moral  justification  could  be  shown  for  the  killing 
of  any  Indian  since  Columbus  landed  at  Salvador.  As 
for  Pontiac,  a  keg  of  liquor  was  inducement  sufficient 
to  one  of  his  own  race  to  murder  him  five  years  after 
the  failure  of  his  revolt. 

Toward  the  end  of  September  Jenkinson,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  in  England,  presented  the  draft  for  an 
American  stamp  tax — the  true  authorship  of  which  was 
never  disclosed.  This  tax  was  the  result  of  the  argu- 
ment of  exclusion  applied  to  the  problem :  How  to  raise 
a  permanent  and  sufficient  revenue  from  the  colonies. 
Foreign  and  internal  commerce  taxes  would  not  serve, 
because  such  commerce  was  forbidden  by  the  Naviga- 
tion Acts.  A  poll  tax  would  be  inequitable  to  the  slave- 
holders. Land  taxes  could  not  be  collected.  Exchequer 
bills  were  against  an  act  of  Parliament.  Nothing  but 
a  stamp  tax  remained,  and  all  persons  concerned  were 
in  favor  of  it,  the  colonists  only  excepted.  Their  opin- 
ion was  that  taxation  without  representation  was  an 
iniquity.  But  they  did  not  perhaps  consider  that  Eng- 
land owed  a  debt  of  seven  hundred  million  dollars, 
which  must  be  provided  for  somehow ;  and  that  the  in- 
terests of  the  Empire  demanded,  in  the  opinion  of  those 
who  were  at  its  head,  that  the  colonies  be  ruled  with 
a  stronger  hand  than  heretofore.  George  Grenville 
accepted  the  responsibility  of  the  act. 

The  King  gave  his  consent  to  the  employment  of  the 
entire  official  force  of  the  colonies  to  prevent  infringe- 
ments of  the  Navigation  Acts,  and  the  army  and  navy 
were  to  assist  them.  There  were  large  emoluments  for 
seizures,  and  the  right  of  search  was  unrestricted,  afloat 
or  ashore.  In  order  to  diminish  the  danger  of  union 
between  the  colonies,  a  new  distribution,  or  alteration 
of  boundaries,  was  adopted  with  a  view  to  increasing 

337 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

their  number.  But  the  country  between  the  Alleghenies 
and  the  Mississippi  was  to  be  closed  to  colonization 
lest  it  should  prove  impossible  to  control  settlers  at 
such  a  distance.  It  proved,  of  course,  still  less  possi- 
ble to  prevent  emigration  thither.  But  all  seemed  going 
well,  and  the  Grenville  Ministry  was  so  firmly  estab- 
lished that  nothing  seemed  able  to  shake  it.  The  fact 
that  a  young  Virginia  lawyer,  Patrick  Henry  by  name, 
had  said  in  the  course  of  an  argument  against  the  claim 
of  a  clergyman  for  the  value  of  some  tobacco  that  a 
king  who  annuls  salutary  laws  is  a  tyrant  and  forfeits 
all  right  to  obedience ;  and  that  if  ministers  fail  to  ful- 
fill the  uses  for  which  they  were  ordained,  the  commu- 
nity may  justly  strip  them  of  their  appointments — this 
circumstance  probably  did  not  come  to  the  ears  of 
the  British  Ministry;  but  it  had  its  effect  in  Virginia. 
Grenville,  however,  was  induced  by  the  appeals  of  some 
influential  Americans  in  London  to  postpone  his  tax 
for  a  year,  so  that  the  assemblies  might  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  consent  to  it.  By  way  of  tempting  them  to 
do  this  he  sought  for  special  inducements;  he  revived 
the  hemp  and  flax  bounties;  he  permitted  rice  to  be 
carried  south  of  Carolina  and  Georgia  on  payment  of 
half  subsidy;  and  he  removed  the  restrictions  on  the 
New  England  whale  fishery.  He  then  informed  Parlia- 
ment of  his  purpose  of  applying  the  stamp  tax  to  Amer- 
ica, and  asked  if  any  member  wished  to  question  the 
right  of  Parliament  to  impose  such  a  tax.  In  a  full 
house  not  a  single  person  rose  to  object.  The  King  gave 
it  his  "hearty"  approval.  It  only  remained  for  America 
humbly  and  gratefully  to  accept  it. 

First  came  comments.  "If  taxes  are  laid  upon  us  in 
any  shape  without  our  having  a  legal  representation 
where  they  are  laid,  are  we  not  reduced  from  the  char- 
acter of  free  subjects  to  the  miserable  state  of  tribu- 
tary slaves?"  asked  Samuel  Adams  of  Boston.  "These 
duties  are  only  the  beginning  of  evils,"  said  Livingston 
of  New  York.  *Acts  of  Parliament  against  natural 
equity  are  void,"  Otis  affirmed;  and  in  a  lucid  and 
cogent  analysis  of  the  principles  and  ends  of  govern- 
ment he  pointed  out  that  the  best  good  of  the  people 

338 


THE    STAMP    ACT 

could  be  secured  only  by  a  supreme  legislative  and 
executive  ultimately  in  the  people ;  but  a  universal  con- 
gress being  impracticable,  representation  was  substi- 
tuted: "but  to  bring  the  powers  of  all  into  the  hands 
of  one  or  some  few,  and  to  make  them  hereditary,  is 
the  interested  work  of  the  weak  and  wicked.  Nothing 
but  life  and  liberty  are  actually  hereditable.  .  .  .  Brit- 
ish colonists  do  not  hold  their  liberties  or  their  lands 
by  so  slippery  a  tenure  as  the  will  of  princes ;  the  colo- 
nists are  common  children  of  the  same  Creator  with 
their  brethren  in  Great  Britain.  ...  A  time  may  come 
when  Parliament  shall  declare  every  American  charter 
void;  but  the  natural,  inherent  rights  of  the  colonists 
as  men  and  citizens  can  never  be  abolished.  The  colo- 
nists know  the  blood  and  treasure  independence  would 
cost.  They  will  never  think  of  it  till  driven  to  it  as  the 
last  fatal  resort  against  ministerial  oppression;  but 
human  nature  must  and  will  be  rescued  from  the  gen- 
eral slavery  that  has  so  long  triumphed  over  the  spe- 
cies." The  immediate  practical  result  was  that  .the 
colonists  pledged  themselves  to  use  nothing  of  English 
manufacture,  even  to  going  without  lamb  to  save  wool. 
And  even  Hutchinson  remarked  that  if  England  had 
paid  as  much  for  the  support  of  the  wars  as  had  been 
voluntarily  paid  by  the  colonists,  there  would  have  been 
no  great  increase  in  the  national  debt. 

All  this  made  no  impression  in  England.  The  dregs 
of  the  Canadian  population  were  a  handful  of  disrepu- 
table Protestant  ex-officers,  traders,  and  publicans — 
"the  most  immoral  collection  of  men  I  ever  knew,"  as 
Murray  said — but  judges  and  juries  were  selected  from 
these  gentry,  and  the  Catholics  were  disfranchised.  In 
New  England  boundaries  were  rearranged,  and  colo- 
nists had  to  buy  new  titles.  New  York,  Connecticut, 
Rhode  Island,  protested  before  Parliament  against  the 
taxation  scheme ;  Philadelphia  at  first  petitioned  to  be 
delivered  from  the  selfishness  of  its  proprietors  even  at 
the  cost  of  becoming  a  royal  colony;  but  later  Frank- 
lin advised  that  they  grant  supplies  to  the  Crown  only 
when  required  of  them  "in  the  usual  constitutional 
manner."  George  Wythe,  speaking  for  Virginia,  remon- 

339 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

strated  against  measures  "fitter  for  exiles  driven  from 
their  country  after  ignominiously  forfeiting  its  favor 
and  protection  than  for  the  posterity  of  loyal  Britons." 
Yet  there  were  many  royalist  Americans  who  were 
urgent  that  English  rule  should  be  strengthened;  and 
the  English  Board  of  Trade  declared  that  the  protests 
of  the  colonies  showed  "a  most  indecent  disrespect  to 
the  Legislature  of  Great  Britain."  The  King  decreed 
that  in  all  military  matters  in  America  the  orders  of 
the  Commander  in  Chief  there,  and  under  him  of  the 
brigadiers,  should  be  supreme ;  and  only  in  the  absence 
of  these  officers  might  the  governors  give  the  word. 
This  became  important  on  the  occasion  of  the  "Boston 
Massacre"  a  few  years  later.  In  Parliament  Grenville 
said  that  he  would  never  lend  a  hand  toward  forging 
chains  for  America,  "lest  in  so  doing  I  forge  them  for 
myself";  but  he  shuffled  out  of  the  American  demand 
not  to  be  taxed  without  representation  by  declaring 
that  Parliament  was  "the  common  council  of  the  whole 
Empire,"  and  added  that  America  was  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  as  much  represented  in  Parliament  as 
many  Englishmen.  This  assertion  brought  to  his  feet 
Barre,  the  companion  of  Wolfe  at  Quebec.  He  denied 
that  America  was  virtually  represented,  and  said  that 
the  House  was  ignorant  of  American  affairs.  Charles 
Townshend,  who  posed  as  an  infallible  authority  on 
America,  replied  that  the  last  war  had  cost  the  colo- 
nies little,  though  they  had  profited  much  by  it;  and 
now  these  "American  children,  planted  by  our  care, 
nourished  up  to  strength  and  opulence  by  our  indul- 
gence, and  protected  by  our  arms,  grudge  to  contribute 
their  mite  to  relieve  us  from  the  heavy  burden  under 
which  we  lie." 

Barre  could  not  restrain  his  indignation.  In  the 
course  of  a  fiery  rejoinder  he  uttered  truths  that  made 
him  the  most  loved  Englishman  in  America,  when  his 
words  were  published  there.  "Your  oppressions 
planted  them  in  America,"  he  thundered.  "They  met 
with  pleasure  all  hardships  compared  with  those  they 
suffered  in  their  own  country.  They  grew  by  your 
neglect  of  them :  as  soon  as  you  began  to  care  for  them, 

340 


THE    STAMP    ACT 

deputies  of  members  of  this  House  were  sent  to  spy  out 
their  liberties,  to  misrepresent  their  actions,  and  to 
prey  upon  them ;  men  whose  behavior  caused  the  blood 
of  those  Sons  of  Liberty  to  recoil  within  them:  men 
who  were  often  glad,  by  going  to  a  foreign  country,  to 
escape  being  brought  to  the  bar  of  justice  in  their  own. 
They  'protected  by  your  arms'  ?  They  have,  amid  their 
constant  and  laborious  industry,  nobly  taken  up  arms 
for  the  defense  of  a  country  whose  frontier  was 
drenched  in  blood,  while  its  interior  parts  yielded  all 
its  little  savings  to  your  emolument.  And  believe  me 
— remember — the  same  spirit  of  freedom  which  actuated 
that  people  at  first  will  accompany  them  still.  They 
are  as  truly  loyal  as  any  subjects  the  King  has;  but 
a  people  jealous  of  their  liberties,  and  who  will  vindi- 
cate them,  if  ever  they  should  be  violated."  But  Gren- 
ville  had  gone  too  far  to  retreat ;  the  case  went  against 
America  by  two  hundred  and  forty-five  to  forty-nine; 
and  only  Beckford  and  Conway  were  on  record  as  deny- 
ing the  power  of  Parliament  to  enact  the  tax.  All  peti- 
tions from  the  colonies  were  refused.  "We  have  power 
to  tax  them,  and  we  will  tax  them,"  said  one  of  the 
ministers.  In  the  House  of  Lords  the  bill  was  agreed 
to  without  debate  or  dissent.  The  King,  at  the  time  of 
signing  the  bill,  was  suffering  from  one  of  his  periodic 
attacks  of  insanity;  but  the  ratification  was  accepted 
as  valid  nevertheless.  Neither  Franklin  nor  any  of  the 
other  American  agents  imagined  the  act  would  be 
forcibly  resisted  in  America.  Even  Otis  had  said,  "We 
must  submit."  But  they  reckoned  without  their  host. 
The  Stamp  Act  was  a  two-edged  sword;  in  aiming  to 
cut  down  the  liberties  of  America  it  severed  the  bonds 
that  tied  her  to  the  mother  country.  » 

The  prospect  before  the  colonies  was  truly  intolera- 
ble. No  product  of  their  industry  could  be  exported 
save  to  England,  none  but  English  ships  might  enter 
their  ports;  no  wool  might  be  moved  from  one  part  of 
the  country  to  another ;  no  Bible  might  be  printed  any- 
where; all  hats  must  come  from  England;  no  ore 
might  be  mined  or  worked;  duties  were  imposed  on  al- 
most every  imported  article  of  use  or  luxury.  No  mar- 

341 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

riage,  promissory  note,  or  other  transaction  requiring 
documentary  record  was  valid  except  with  the  Gov- 
ernment stamp.  In  a  word,  convicts  in  a  jail  could 
hardly  be  shackled  more  severely  than  were  these  two 
millions  of  the  most  freedom-loving  and  intelligent  peo- 
ple on  the  globe.  "If  this  system  were  to  prevail,"  re- 
marked Thacher  of  Boston,  "it  would  extinguish  the 
flame  of  liberty  all  over  the  world." 

But  it  was  not  to  prevail.  Patrick  Henry  had  been 
elected  to  the  Legislature  of  Virginia.  His  first  act  was 
to  maintain,  in  committee  of  the  whole,  that  the  colony 
had  never  given  up  its  right  to  be  governed  by  its  own 
laws  respecting  taxation,  and  that  it  had  been  con- 
stantly recognized  by  England;  and  that  any  attempt 
to  vest  such  power  in  other  persons  tended  to  destroy 
British  as  well  as  American  freedom.  In  a  passion- 
ate peroration  he  warned  George  III  to  remember  the 
fate  of  other  tyrants  who  had  trampled  on  popular 
liberties. 

Otis  in  Massachusetts  suggested  the  novel  idea 
of  summoning  a  congress  from  all  the  colonies  to  de- 
liberate on  the  situation.  In  New  York  a  writer  de- 
clared that  while  there  was  no  disposition  among  the 
colonies  to  break  with  England  as  long  as  they  were 
permitted  their  full  rights,  yet  they  would  be  "satis- 
fied with  no  less."  "The  Gospel  promises  liberty  and 
permits  resistance,"  said  Mayhew.  Finally,  the  daunt- 
less and  faithful  Christopher  Gadsden  of  South  Caro- 
lina, after  considering  Massachusetts'  suggestion  of  a 
union,  pronounced,  as  head  of  the  committee,  in  its 
favor. 

In  England,  meanwhile,  the  cause  of  the  colonies  had 
been  somewhat  favored  by  the  willfulness  of  the  King, 
who,  in  order  to  bring  his  court  favorites  into  power, 
dismissed  the  Grenville  ministry.  There  were  no  per- 
sons of  ability  in  the  new  cabinet,  and  vacant  feeble- 
ness was  accounted  better  for  America  than  resolute 
will  to  oppress.  The  King  himself,  however,  never 
wavered  in  his  resolve  that  the  colonies  should  be  taxed. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  colonies  were  at  this  time  dis- 
posed to  think  that  the  King  was  friendly  to  their 

342 


THE    STAMP    ACT 

liberties.     But  whatever  misapprehensions  existed  on 
either  side  were  soon  to  be  finally  dispelled. 

In  August,  1765,  the  names  of  the  stamp  distributers 
(who  were  to  be  citizens  of  the  colonies)  were  pub- 
lished in  America ;  and  the  packages  of  stamped  paper 
were  dispatched  from  England.  There  was  an  old  elm 
tree  in  Boston,  standing  near  the  corner  of  Essex 
Street,  opposite  Boylston  Market.  On  the  morning  of 
the  14th  of  August,  two  figures  were  descried  by  early 
pedestrians  hanging  from  the  lower  branches  of  the 
tree.  "They  were  dressed  in  square-skirted  coats  and 
small  clothes,  and  as  their  wigs  hung  down  over  their 
faces,  they  looked  like  real  men.  One  was  intended  to 
represent  the  Earl  of  Bute,  who  was  supposed  to  have 
advised  the  King  to  tax  America;  the  other  was  meant 
for  the  effigy  of  Andrew  Oliver,  a  gentleman  belonging 
to  one  of  the  most  respectable  families  in  Massa- 
chusetts, whom  the  King  had  appointed  to  be  the  dis- 
tributer of  stamps."  It  was  in  vain  that  Hutchinson 
ordered  the  removal  of  the  effigies;  the  people  had  the 
matter  in  their  own  hands.  In  the  evening  a  great  and 
orderly  crowd  marched  behind  a  bier  bearing  the  fig- 
ures, gave  three  cheers  for  "Liberty,  Property,  and  no 
stamps,"  before  the  State  House,  where  the  Governor 
and  Hutchinson  were  in  session,  and  thence  went  to  the 
house  which  Oliver  had  intended  for  his  stamp  office, 
tore  it  down,  and  burned  his  image  in  the  fire  they 
kindled  with  it,  in  front  of  his  own  residence.  "Death 
to  the  man  who  offers  stamped  paper  to  sell!"  they 
shouted.  "Beat  an  alarm!"  quavered  Hutchinson  to 
the  militia  colonel.  "My  drummers  are  in  the  mob," 
was  the  reply;  and  when  Hutchinson  attempted  to  dis- 
perse the  crowd,  they  forced  him  to  run  the  gantlet, 
in  the  Indian  fashion  which  was  too 'familiar  to  New 
Englanders,  and  caught  him  several  raps  as  he  ran. 
"If  Oliver  had  been  there,  he'd  have  been  murdered," 
said  Governor  Bernard,  with  conviction;  "if  he  doesn't 
resign — !"  But  Oliver,  much  as  he  loved  the  perquisites 
of  the  office,  loved  his  life  more,  and  he  resigned  before 
the  mob  could  threaten  him.  Bernard,  with  chattering 
teeth,  was  ensconced  in  the  safest  room  in  the  castle. 

343 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

There  remained  Hutchinson,  in  his  handsome  house  in 
Garden  Court  Street  near  the  North  Square.  Late  at 
night  the  mob  came  surging  and  roaring  in  that  direc- 
tion. As  they  turned  into  Garden  Court  Street,  the 
sound  of  them  was  as  if  a  wild  beast  had  broken  loose 
and  was  howling  for  its  prey.  From  the  window  the 
terrified  Chief  Justice  beheld  "an  immense  concourse  of 
people,  rolling  onward  like  a  tempestuous  flood  that 
had  swelled  beyond  its  bounds  and  would  sweep  every- 
thing before  it.  He  felt,  at  that  moment,  that  the  wrath 
of  the  people  was  a  thousandfold  more  terrible  than 
the  wrath  of  a  king.  That  was  a  moment  when  an  aris- 
tocrat and  a  loyalist  might  have  learned  how  powerless 
are  kings,  nobles,  and  great  men,  when  the  low  and 
humble  range  themselves  against  them.  Had  Hutchin- 
son understood  and  remembered  this  lesson  he  need 
not  in  after  years  have  been  an  exile  from  his  native 
country,  nor  finally  have  laid  his  bones  in  a  distant 
land." 

The  mob  broke  into  the  house,  destroyed  the  valua- 
ble furniture,  pictures,  and  library,  and  completely 
gutted  it.  The  act  was  denounced  and  repudiated  by 
the  better  class  of  patriots,  like  Adams  and  Mayhew; 
but  it  served  a  good  purpose.  The  voice  of  the  infuri- 
ated mob  is  sometimes  the  only  one  that  tyranny  can 
hear.  One  after  another  all  the  colonies  refused  to  ac- 
cept the  Stamp  Act,  and  every  stamp  officer  was  obliged 
to  resign.  Meanwhile  the  leaders  discussed  the  people's 
rights  openly.  The  law  was  to  go  into  effect  on  Novem- 
ber 1st.  "Will  you  violate  the  law  of  Parliament?" 
was  asked.  "The  Stamp  Act  is  against  Magna  Charta, 
and  Lord  Coke  says  an  act  of  Parliament  against 
Magna  Charta  is  for  that  reason  void,"  was  the  reply. 
"Rulers  are  attorneys,  agents,  and  trustees  of  the  peo- 
ple," said  Adams,  "and  if  the  trust  is  betrayed  or 
wantonly  trifled  away,  the  people  have  a  right  to  re- 
voke the  authority  that  they  themselves  have  deputed, 
and  to  constitute  abler  and  better  agents.  We  have  an 
indisputable  right  to  demand  our  privileges  against  all 
the  power  and  authority  on  earth."  Never  had  there 
been  such  unanimity  throughout  the  colonies;  but  in 

344 


THE    STAMP   ACT 

New  York,  General  Gage,  who  had  betrayed  lack  of 
courage  under  Amherst  a  few  years  before,  but  who 
was  now  Commander  in  Chief,  declared  he  would  put 
down  disaffection  with  a  strong  hand.  There  were 
ships  of  war  in  the  harbor,  and  the  fort  in  the  town 
mounted  heavy  guns.  Major  James  of  the  artillery 
was  intrusted  with  the  preparations.  "I'll  cram  the 
stamps  down  their  throats  with  the  end  of  my  sword : 
if  they  attempt  to  rise  I'll  drive  them  out  of  town  for 
a  pack  of  rascals,  with  four  and  twenty  men !"  It  was 
easy  to  pass  a  Stamp  Act,  and  to  bring  stamped  paper 
into  the  colonies;  but  it  would  take  more  than  Major 
James,  and  Governor  Colden,  and  General  Gage  himself 
to  make  the  people  swallow  them.  The  day  of  the 
"Sons  of  Liberty''  was  dawning. 


345 


CHAPTER    XIII 

THE   PASSING   OF  THE  RUBICON 

ISSUE  was  now  joined  between  America  and  Eng- 
land.    They  faced  each  other — the  great  historic 
figure  and  the  stripling  of  a  century — and  knew 
that  the  limit  had  been  reached.    The  next  move  might 
be  irrevocable. 

"You  must  submit  to  the  tax."  "I  will  not  submit." 
Englishmen,  with  some  few  eminent  exceptions,  be- 
lieved that  England  was  in  the  right.  If  the  word  of 
Parliament  was  not  law,  what  was?  If  the  law  it  made 
could  be  disregarded,  what  could  stand  ?  A  colony  was 
a  child :  children  must  be  kept  in  subjection.  Colonies 
were  planted  for  the  benefit  and  extension  of  commerce ; 
if  they  were  permitted  to  conduct  their  commerce 
without  regard  to  the  mother  country,  their  reason  for 
existence  was  gone.  The  protection  of  a  colony  was  ex- 
pensive :  why  should  not  the  protected  one  bear  a  part 
at  least  of  the  expense  ?  If  the  mother  country  allowed 
the  colony  to  fix  the  amount  it  should  pay,  what 
guarantee  could  she  have  that  it  would  pay  anything? 
Could  mighty  England  assume  toward  little  America 
the  attitude  of  a  tradesman,  humbly  standing  at  the 
door  with  a  bill,  asking  whether  it  would  be  convenient 
to  pay  something  on  account?  If  there  were  to  be  con- 
descension, it  should  not  come  from  America.  She 
clamored  for  justice;  England  would  be  just:  but  she 
must  first  be  obeyed.  England  might  forgive  the  debt, 
but  must  insist  upon  acknowledgment  that  the  debt 
was  due,  and  upop  the  right  to  collect  it  at  pleasure. 
As  for  the  plea  that  taxation  should  postulate  repre- 
sentation, it  would  not  bear  examination.  It  might  be 
true  that  Parliament  was  a  theoretically  representative 
body;  but  in  fact  it  was  a  gathering  of  the  men  in 
England  best  qualified  to  govern,  who  were  rather 

346 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    KUBICON 

selected  than  elected.  Many  of  the  commons  held  their 
seats  by  favor  of  the  nobility ;  the  suffrage,  as  practiced, 
was  a  recognition  that  the  people  might  have  a  voice  in 
the  Government  of  the  country ;  but  that  voice  was  not 
to  be  a  deciding  one.  It  was  exercised  only  by  a  part  of 
the  people,  and  even  then  largely  under  advice  or  in- 
fluence. Many  important  towns  and  districts  had  no 
representatives.  Americans  were  as  well  off  as  these 
Englishmen ;  on  what  ground  could  they  demand  to  be 
better  off?  They  must  trust  to  the  will  of  England  to 
secure  their  advantage  in  securing  her  own;  to  her 
wisdom,  equity,  and  benevolence.  Why  should  they 
complain  of  the  Navigation  Acts?  What  more  did  they 
want  than  a  market? — and  that  England  afforded. 
Why  should  they  feel  aggrieved  at  the  restriction  on 
their  manufactures?  England  could  manufacture 
articles  better  than  they  could,  and  it  was  necessary  to 
the  well-being  of  her  manufacturing  classes  that  they 
should  be  free  from  American  competition.  Did  they 
object  to  the  measures  England  took  to  prevent  smug- 
gling and  illicit  dealing?  They  had  only  themselves  to 
blame:  was  it  not  notorious  that  evasions  and  open 
violations  of  the  law  had  for  years  existed?  Did  they 
object  to  royal  governors?  What  better  expedient  was 
there  to  keep  the  two  countries  in  touch  with  each 
other — to  maintain  that  "representation"  in  England 
which  they  craved? — whereas,  were  they  to  choose  gov-, 
ernors  from  among  themselves,  they  would  soon  drift 
away  from  sympathy  with  and  understanding  of  Eng- 
land. And  why  all  this  uproar  about  the  stamp  tax? 
What  easier,  more  equitable  way  could  be  devised  to 
get  the  financial  tribute  required  without  pressing 
hard  on  anyone?  If  Americans  would  object  to  that, 
they  would  object  to  anything;  and  they  must  either 
be  abandoned  entirely  to  their  own  devices — which  of 
course  was  out  of  the  question — or  they  must  be  com- 
pelled, if  they  would  not  do  it  voluntarily,  to  accede  to 
it.  Compulsion  meant  force;  force  meant  a  resident 
English  army;  and  that  army  must  be  supported  and 
accommodated  by  those  for  whose  regulation  it  was 
established. 

347 


Such  was  the  attitude  of  men  like  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Mansfield,  who  spoke  on  the  subject  in  the  House  of 
Lords.  He  refused  to  recognize  any  essential  distinc- 
tion between  external  and  internal  taxes;  though,  as 
Pitt  pointed  out,  the  former  was  designed  for  the  regu- 
lation of  trade,  and  whatever  profit  arose  from  it  was 
incidental;  while  the  latter  was  imposed  to  raise  reve- 
nue for  the  Home  Government,  and  was,  in  effect, 
arbitrarily  appropriating  the  property  of  subjects  with- 
out their  consent  asked  or  obtained.  Pitt  disposed  of 
the  argument  of  virtual  representation  by  denying  it 
point-blank;  Americans  were  not  in  the  same  position 
with  those  Englishmen  who  were  not  directly  repre- 
sented in  Parliament;  because  the  latter  were  inhabi- 
tants of  the  kingdom,  and  could  be,  and  were  indirectly 
represented  in  a  hundred  ways.  But,  while  opposing 
the  right  of  Parliament  to  rob  America,  he  asserted 
in  the  strongest  terms  its  right  to  govern  her.  "The 
will  of  Parliament,  properly  signified,  must  forever 
keep  the  colonies  dependent  upon  the  sovereign  king- 
dom of  Great  Britain.  If  any  idea  of  renouncing  al- 
legiance has  existed,  it  was  but  a  momentary  frenzy. 
In  a  good  cause,  the  force  of  this  country  can  crush 
America  to  atoms.  But  on  this  ground  of  the  Stamp  Act, 
I  am  one  who  will  lift  up  my  hands  against  it.  I  re- 
joice that  America  has  resisted.  In  such  a  cause  your 
success  would  be  hazardous.  America,  if  she  fell,  would 
embrace  the  pillar  of  the  state,  and  pull  down  the  Con- 
stitution along  with  her." 

The  Lords  passed  the  bill  against  a  minority  of  five. 
In  the  Commons,  where  Burke  ardently  spoke  in  favor 
of  the  tax,  the  majority  was  even  greater.  "It  was  de- 
cided that  irresponsible  taxation  was  not  a  tyranny 
\  but  a  vested  right ;  that  Parliament  held  legislative 
power,  not  as  a  representative  body,  but  in  absolute 
trust:  that  it  was  not  and  had  never  been  responsible 
to  the  people."  This  was  the  new  Toryism,  which  was 
•to  create  a  new  opposition.  The  debate  aroused  a  dis- 
cussion of  popular  rights  in  England  itself,  and  the 
press  began  to  advocate  genuine  representation.  Mean- 
while, it  looked  ill  for  the  colonies.  But  a  law  which 

348 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    RUBICON 

is  only  engrossed  on  parchment,  and  is  not  also  founded 
in  natural  truth  and  justice,  has  no  binding  power, 
even  though  it  be  supported  by  the  army  and  navy  of 
England.  Humanity  was  on  the  side  of  America,  and 
made  her  small  numbers  and  physical  weakness  as 
strong  as  all  that  is  good  and  right  in  the  world.  All 
appearances  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  there  is 
nothing  real  but  right.  Had  America  fought  only  for 
herself,  she  would  have  failed. 

The  instances  of  mob  violence  in  the  colonies  at  this 
period  were  not  to  be  classed  with  lawless  outbreaks  in 
countries  which  have  a  government  of  their  own.  The 
colonies  were  subjected  to  a  government  which  they 
did  not  elect  or  approve;  and  the  management  of  their 
affairs  consequently  reverted  inevitably  and  rightly  to 
the  body  of  the  people  themselves.  They  had  no  officers 
and  no  organization,  but  they  knew  what  they  wanted ; 
and  having  in  view  the  slowness  of  intercommunication, 
and  the  differences  in  the  ideas  and  customs  of  the 
several  colonies,  the  unanimity  of  their  action  in  the 
present  juncture  is  surprising.  When  their  congress  met 
in  New  York  on  the  7th  of  October,  1765,  their  debate 
was  less  as  to  principle  than  as  to  the  manner  of  their 
declaration  and  enforcement.  The  watchword,  "Join  or 
die,"  had  been  started  in  September,  and  was  taken  up 
all  over  the  country.  Union  was  strength,  and  on  union 
all  were  resolved.  The  mob  had  put  a  stop  to  the  exe- 
cution of  the  law;  it  now  rested  with  the  congress 
to  settle  in  what  way  and  on  what  grounds  the  repeal 
of  the  law  should  be  demanded.  Against  the  people  and 
the  congress  were  arrayed  the  royal  governors  and 
other  officials,  and  the  troops.  The  former  deluged  the 
Home  Government  with  exhortations  to  be  firm;  the 
latter  waited  the  word  to  act,  not  without  misgivings; 
for  here  were  two  million  inhabitants,  a  third  or  fourth 
part  of  whom  might  bear  arms. 

Should  the  congress  base  its  liberties  on  charter 
rights,  or  on  natural  justice  and  universal  reason?  On 
the  latter,  said  Gadsden  of  South  Carolina;  and  the 
rest  acceded.  "I  wish,"  Gadsden  had  said,  "that  the 
charters  may  not  ensnare  us  at  last  by  drawing  differ- 

349 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

ent  colonies  to  act  differently  in  this  great  cause.  There 
ought  to  be  no  New  England  man,  no  New  Yorker, 
known  on  the  continent,  but  all  Americans."  It  was  a 
great  truth  to  be  enunciated  at  that  time.  There  were 
statesmen  less  wise  in  this  country  a  hundred  years 
later.  The  Duke  of  Choiseul,  premier  of  France,  and 
one  of  the  acutest  ministers  that  ever  lived,  foresaw 
the  independence  of  America,  and  even  so  early  began 
to  take  measures  having  in  view  the  attitude  of  France 
in  that  contingency.  In  the  congress,  Otis  advocated 
repeal,  not  of  the  Stamp  Act  alone,  but  of  all  acts  laying 
a  duty  on  trade;  and  it  was  finally  agreed  to  mention 
the  latter  as  grievances.  Trial  by  jury  was  stipulated 
for  instead  of  admiralty  jurisdiction;  taxes  should  be 
imposed  only  by  colonial  legislatures,  representation 
in  Parliament  being  impracticable.  One  or  two  of  the 
delegates  feared  to  sign  the  document  embodying  these 
views  and  demands;  whereupon  Dyer  of  Connecticut 
observed  that  since  disunion  in  these  matters  was 
fatal,  the  remaining  delegates  ought  to  sign  them;  and 
this  was  done,  only  Ruggles  and  Ogden,  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  of  New  Jersey  respectively,  declining.  By 
this  act  the  colonies  became  "a  bundle  of  sticks  which 
could  neither  be  bent  nor  broken."  At  the  same  time, 
Samuel  Adams  addressed  a  letter  to  Governor  Bernard 
of  Massachusetts.  "To  suppose  a  right  in  Parliament 
to  tax  subjects  without  their  consent  includes  the  idea 
of  a  despotic  power,"  said  he.  "The  Stamp  Act  cancels 
the  very  conditions  upon  which  our  ancestors,  with  toil 
and  blood  and  at  their  sole  expense,  settled  this  coun- 
try. It  tends  to  destroy  that  mutual  confidence  and 
affection,  as  well  as  that  equality,  which  ought  to  sub- 
sist among  all  his  Majesty's  subjects:  and  what  is 
worst  of  all  evils,  if  his  Majesty's  subjects  are  not  to 
be  governed  according  to  the  known  and  stated  rules 
of  the  Constitution,  their  minds  may  in  time  become 
disaffected." 

On  the  1st  of  November,  the  day  when  the  act  was 
to  go  into  effect,  Colden,  Governor  of  New  York,  "re- 
solved to  have  the  stamps  distributed."  The  army  and 
navy  professed  themselves  ready  to  support  him.  But 

350 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    RUBICON 

the  population  rose  up  in  a  body  against  it  with  Isaac 
Sears  as  leader.  "If  you  fire  on  us,  we'll  hang  you," 
they  told  Golden.  Torchlight  processions,  with  the 
Governor's  effigy  burned  in  a  bonfire  composed  of  his 
own  carriages,  right  under  the  guns  of  the  fort  in  which 
he  had  taken  refuge,  followed.  Golden  capitulated,  and 
even  gave  up  the  stamps  into  the  custody  of  the  people. 
Similar  scenes  were  enacted  in  the  other  colonies.  The 
principle  of  "union  and  liberty"  became  daily  more 
deeply  rooted.  If  England  refused  to  repeal  the  act, 
"we  will  repeal  it  ourselves,"  declared  the  colonists. 
John  Adams  said  that  the  colonies  were  already  dis- 
charged from  allegiance,  because  they  were  "out  of  the 
King's  protection" — protection  and  allegiance  being 
reciprocal.  The  Sous  of  Liberty  became  a  recognized 
organization.  The  press  printed  an  admonition  to 
George  III,  brief  but  pithy:  GREAT  SIR,  RETREAT,  OR 
You  ARE  RI:INED.  Otis  maintained  that  the  King,  by 
mismanaging  colonial  affairs,  had  practically  abdi- 
cated, so  far  as  they  were  concerned.  Israel  Putnam, 
being  of  an  active  turn,  rode  through  Connecticut  to 
count  noses,  and  rejwrted  that  he  could  raise  a  force 
of  ten  thousand  men.  Meanwhile 'the  routine  business 
of  the  country  went  on  with  but  slight  modification, 
though  according  to  the  Stamp  Act  nothing  that  was 
done  without  a  stamp  was  good  in  law.  But  it  ap- 
peared, upon  experiment,  that  if  the  law  was  in  the 
people  it  could  be  dispensed  with  on  paper.  And 
wherever  you  went,  you  found  a  population  smilingly 
clad  in  homespun. 

Would  England  repeal  the  act?  The  House  of  Lords 
voted  in  favor  of  enforcing  it,  February,  1766.  In  the 
Commons,  General  Howard  declared  that  if  it  were 
passed,  rather  than  imbrue  his  bauds  in  the  blood  of 
his  countrymen,  he  would  sheathe  his  sword  in  his  own 
body.  The  House  divided  two  to  one  against  the  repeal. 
The  King  said  he  was  willing  to  modify,  but  not  to 
repeal  it.  On  the  13th  Franklin  was  summoned  to  the 
bar.  He  showed  why  the  colonies  could  not  and  would 
not  pay  the  tax,  and  that,  unless  it  were  repealed,  their 
affection  for  England,  and  the  commerce  depending 

351 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

thereon,  would  be  lost.  Would  America  pay  a  modi- 
fied stamp  duty?  he  was  asked;  and  bravely  replied, 
"No:  never:  they  will  never  submit  to  it."  But  could 
not  a  military  force  carry  the  act  into  effect?  "They 
cannot  force  a  man  to  take  stamps  who  chooses  to  do 
without  them,"  was  the  answer.  He  added  that  the 
colonists  thought  it  hard  that  a  body  in  which  they 
were  not  represented  should  make  a  merit  of  giving 
what  was  not  its  own  but  theirs.  He  affirmed  a  differ- 
ence between  internal  and  external  taxation,  because 
the  former  could  not  be  evaded,  whereas  articles  of 
consumption,  on  which  the  duty  formed  part  of  the 
price,  could  be  dispensed  with  at  will.  "But  what  if 
necessaries  of  life  should  be  taxed?"  asked  Grenville, 
thinking  he  had  Franklin  on  the  hip.  But  the  American 
sage  crushingly  replied,  "I  do  not  know  a  single  article 
imported  into  the  colonies  but  what  they  can  either  do 
without  it,  or  make  it  for  themselves." 

In  the  final  debates,  Pitt,  called  on  to  say  whether, 
should  total  repeal  be  granted,  in  compliance  with 
American  menaces  of  resistance,  the  consequence  would 
not  be  the  overthrow  of  British  authority  in  America, 
gave  his  voice  for  repeal  as  a  right.  Grenville,  on  the 
other  hand,  thought  that  America  should  learn  that 
"prayers  are  not  to  be  brought  to  Caesar  through  riot 
and  sedition."  The  vote  for  repeal,  and  against  modi- 
fied enforcement,  was  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  to 
one  hundred  and  sixty-seven.  The  dissenting  members 
of  the  Lords  signed  a  protest,  because,  should  they  as- 
sent to  the  repeal  merely  because  it  had  passed  the 
lower  house,  "we  in  effect  vote  ourselves  useless."  This 
suggests  the  Je  ne  vois  pas  la  necessite  of  the  French 
epigrammatist.  The  Lords  took  themselves  too  seri- 
ously. Meanwhile,  Bow-bells  were  rung,  Pitt  was 
cheered,  and  flags  flew;  the  news  was  sent  to  America 
in  fast  packets,  and  the  rejoicing  in  the  colonies  was 
great.  Prisoners  for  debt  were  set  free,  there  were  il- 
luminations and  bonfires,  and  honor  was  paid  to  Pitt, 
Camden,  Barr£,  and  to  the  King,  who  was  eating  his 
heart  with  vexation  at  having  been  compelled  to  assent 
to  what  he  called  "the  fatal  repeal." 

352 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE   RUBICON 

The  British  Government,  while  repealing  the  law, 
had  yet  affirmed  its  sovereign  authority  over  the  colo- 
nies. The  colonies,  on  the  other  hand,  were  inclined  to 
confirm  their  present  advantage  and  take  a  step  still 
further  in  advance.  They  would  not  be  taxed  without 
representation;  why  should  they  submit  to  any  legis- 
lation whatever  without  representation?  What  right 
had  England  to  enforce  the  Navigation  Acts?  The 
more  the  general  situation  was  contemplated  and  dis- 
cussed, the  plainer  to  all  did  it  appear  that  union  was 
indispensable.  The  governors  of  most  of  the  colonies 
were  directing  a  treacherous  attack  against  the  char- 
ters ;  but  bold  students  of  the  drift  of  things  were  fore- 
seeing a  time  when  charters  might  be  superseded  by 
independence.  Patriots  everywhere  were  keenly  on  the 
watch  for  any  symptoms  of  a  design  on  Parliament's 
part  to  raise  a  revenue  from  America.  The  presence 
and  quartering  of  English  soldiers  in  the  colonies  was 
regarded  as  not  only  a  burden,  but  an  insinuation.  It 
was  moreover  a  constant  occasion  of  disturbance;  for 
there  was  no  love  lost  between  the  people  and  the  sol- 
diers. But  that  there  was  no  disposition  on  the  peo- 
ple's part  to  pick  quarrels'  or  to  borrow  trouble  was 
evident  from  their  voluntarily  passing  resolutions  for 
the  reimbursement  of  persons,  like  Hutchinson,  who 
had  suffered  loss  from  the  riots.  If  England  would 
treat  them  like  reasonable  creatures,  they  were  more 
than  willing  to  meet  her  half  way.  It  is  probable  that 
but  for  the  royal  governors,  England  and  America 
might  have  arrived  at  an  amicable  understanding;  yet, 
in  the  ultimate  interests  of  both  countries,  it  was  bet- 
ter that  the  evil  counselors  of  the  day  should  prevail. 

Townshend,  an  able,  eloquent,  but  entirely  untrust- 
worthy man,  devoted  to  affairs,  and  of  insatiable  though 
unprincipled  ambition,  proposed  in  Parliament  to  for- 
mulate a  plan  to  derive  a  permanent  revenue  from 
America.  This  Parliament  has  been  described  by  his- 
torians and  is  convicted  by  its  record  as  the  most 
corrupt,  profligate  and  unscrupulous  in  English  annals. 
William  Pitt,  who  had  accepted  the  title  of  Lord  Chat- 
ham, and  entered  the  House  of  Lords,  was  nominally 

U.S.— 12    VOL.  I  353 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  leader,  but  his  health  and  failing  faculties  left  him 
no  real  power.  Shelburne,  Secretary  of  State,  was 
moderate  and  liberal,  but  no  match  for  Townshend's 
brilliancy.  The  latter's  proposal  was  to  suspend  the 
Legislature  of  New  York,  as  a  punishment  for  the  in- 
subordination of  the  colony  and  a  warning  to  others; 
to  support  a  resident  army,  and  to  pay  salaries  to  gov- 
ernors, judges,  and  other  Crown  officers  out  of  the 
revenue  from  America;  to  establish  commissioners  of 
the  customs  in  the  country;  to  legalize  general  writs 
of  assistance;  to  permit  no  native-born  American  to 
hold  office  under  the  Crown;  and  to  make  the  revenue 
derivable  from  specified  taxes  on  imports.  The  tax  on 
tea  was  among  those  particularly  mentioned.  This  was 
the  scheme  which  was  to  be  substituted  for  the  re- 
pealed stamp  tax;  the  colonies  had  objected  to  that  as 
internal;  this  was  external,  and,  though  Townshend 
had  refused  to  admit  any  difference  between  the  two, 
he  now  employed  it  as  a  means  of  bringing  the  colonies 
to  terms.  The  measure  was  received  with  acclaim  by 
Parliament,  though  it  was  contrary  to  the  real  senti- 
ment of  the  English  nation.  The  King  was  charmed 
with  it.  Townshend  died  soon  after  it  was  passed,  at 
the  age  of  forty-one ;  and  the  King  called  on  Lord  North 
to  take  his  place ;  a  man  of  infirm  will,  but  able,  well- 
informed  and  clear-minded,  with  a  settled  predisposi- 
tion against  the  cause  of  the  people.  He  was  as  good 
an  enemy  of  America  as  Grenville  himself,  though  a 
less  ill-natured  one. 

But,  viewing  this  period  broadly,  it  is  manifest  that 
the  finest  brains  and  best  hearts,  both  in  England  and 
America,  were  friends  to  the  cause  of  liberty.  America, 
certainly,  at  this  critical  epoch  in  her  career,  produced 
a  remarkable  band  of  statesmen  and  patriots,  perfectly 
fitted  to  the  parts  they  had  to  play.  The  two  Adamses, 
Gadsden,  Franklin,  Otis,  Patrick  Henry,  Livingstone 
of  New  York,' John  Hancock,  the  wealthy  and  splendid 
Boston  merchant,  Hawley  of  Connecticut,  and  Wash- 
ington, meditating  upon  the  liberties  of  his  country  in 
the  retirement  of  Mount  Vernon,  and  unconsciously 
preparing  himself  to  lead  her  armies  through  the  Rev- 

354 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE   RUBICON 

olution — there  has  never  been  a  company  of  better  men 
active  at  one  time  in  any  country.  Just  at  this  junc- 
ture, too,  there  arose  in  Delaware  a  prophet  by  the 
name  of  John  Dickinson,  who  wrote  under  the  title  of 
The  Farmer,  and  who  formulated  an  argument  against 
the  new  revenue  law  which  caught  the  attention  of  all 
the  colonies.  England,  he  pointed  out,  prohibits 
American  manufactures;  she  now  lays  duties  on  im- 
portations, for  the  purpose  of  revenue  only.  Americans 
were  taking  steps  to  establish  a  league  to  abstain  from 
purchasing  any  articles  brought  from  England,  in- 
tending thus  to  defeat  the  operation  of  the  act  without 
breaking  the  law.  This  might  answer  in  the  case  of 
luxuries,  or  of  things  which  could  be  made  at  home. 
But  what  if  England  were  to  meet  this  move  by  laying 
a  duty  on  some  necessary  of  life,  and  then  forbid 
Americans  to  manufacture  it  at  home?  Obviously,  they 
would  then  be  constrained  to  buy  it,  paying  the  duty, 
and  thus  surrendering  their  freedom.  From  this  point 
of  view  it  would  not  be  enough  to  evade  the  tax ;  it  must 
be  repealed,  or  resisted;  and  resistance  meant  war. 

Unless,  however,  some  action  of  an  official  character 
were  taken,  binding  the  colonies  to  cooperation,  it  was 
evident  that  the  law  would  gradually  go  into  effect. 
The  Massachusetts  Assembly,  early  in  1768,  sent  to  its 
London  agent  a  letter,  composed  by  Samuel  Adams, 
embodying  their  formal  protest  to  the  articles  of  the 
revenue  act  and  its  corollaries.  At  the  same  time,  they 
sent  copies  of  the  statement  to  the  other  colonial  as- 
semblies in  the  country,  accompanied  with  the  sugges- 
tion that  all  unite  in  discontinuing  the  use  of  British 
imported  manufactures  and  other  articles.  The  Crown 
officers,  for  their  part,  renewed  their  appeal  to  Eng- 
land for  naval  and  military  forces  to  compel  obedience 
and  secure  order. 

The  King  and  the  Government  inclined  to  think  that 
force  was  the  remedy  in  this  case.  It  was  in  vain  that 
the  more  magnanimous  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  an  army  and  navy  could  not  compel  a  man  to  buy 
a  black  broadcloth  coat,  if  he  liked  a  homespun  one 
better.  Inflammatory  reports  from  America  represented 

355 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

it  as  being  practically  in  a  state  of  insurrection.  A 
Boston  newspaper,  which  had  published  a  severe  ar- 
raignment of  Governor  Bernard,  was  tried  for  libel, 
and  the  jury,  though  informed  by  Hutchinson  that  if 
they  did  not  convict  of  high  treason  they  "might  depend 
on  being  damned,"  brought  in  a  verdict  of  acquittal. 
The  Adams  letter  was  laid  before  the  English  ministry 
and  pronounced  to  be  "of  a  most  dangerous  and  fac- 
tious tendency,"  and  an  injunction  was  dispatched  to 
the  several  colonial  governors  to  bid  their  assemblies 
to  treat  it  with  contempt,  and  if  they  declined,  to  dis- 
solve them.  Gage  was  ordered  to  enforce  tranquillity. 
But  the  colonial  resistance  had  thus  far  been  passive 
only.  The  assemblies  now  declared  that  they  had  ex- 
clusive right  to  tax  the  people;  Virginia  not  only 
agreed  to  the  Adams  letter,  but  indited  one  even  more 
uncompromising ;  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  fell  into 
line.  A  Boston  committee  presented  an  address  to  Ber- 
nard asking  him  to  mediate  between  the  people  and 
England;  he  promised  to  do  so,  but  at  the  same  time 
sent  out  secret  requests  to  have  regiments  sent  to 
Boston.  Divining  his  duplicity,  John  Adams,  at  the 
next  town  meeting,  formulated  the  people's  resolve  to 
vindicate  their  rights  "at  the  utmost  hazard  of  their 
lives  and  fortunes,"  declaring  that  whosoever  should 
solicit  the  importation  of  troops  was  "an  enemy  to  this 
town  and  province."  The  determination  not  to  rescind 
the  principles  stated  in  the  Samuel  Adams  letter  of 
January  was  unanimous.  Lord  Mansfield  thereupon 
declared  that  the  Americans  must  be  reduced  to  en- 
tire obedience  before  their  alleged  grievances  could  be 
considered.  Camden  confessed  that  he  did  not  know 
what  to  do;  the  law  must  be  executed:  but  how?  "If 
any  province  is  to  be  chastised,  it  should  be  Boston." 
Finally,  two  regiments  and  a  squadron  were  ordered 
to  Boston  from  Halifax.  Samuel  Adams  felt  that  the 
time  was  now  at  hand  either  for  independence  or  an- 
r^ihilation,  and  he  affirmed  publicly  that  the  colonists 
would  be  justified  in  "destroying,  every  British  soldier 
whose  foot  should  touch  the  shore."  In  the  country 
round  Boston,  thirty  thousand  men  were  ready  to  fight. 

356 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    RUBICON 

A  meeting  was  called  in  Faneuil  Hall,  and  it  resolved 
that  "the  inhabitants  of  the  Town  of  Boston  will  at  the 
utmost  peril  of  their  lives  and  fortunes  maintain  and 
defend  their  rights,  liberties,  privileges,  and  immu- 
nities." "And,"  said  Otis,  pointing  to  four  hundred 
muskets  which  had  been  collected,  "there  are  your 
arms ;  when  an  attempt  is  made  against  your  liberties, 
they  will  be  delivered."  Bernard,  who  was  pale  with 
alarm,  had  to  announce  that  the  regiments  were  com- 
ing, and  would  be  quartered,  one  in  Castle  William,  the 
other  on  the  town.  The  council  replied  that  there  was 
room  enough  in  the  Castle  for  both,  and  that,  accord- 
ing to  the  law,  any  officer  attempting  to  use  private 
houses  would  be  cashiered.  In  the  midst  of  the  dispute, 
the  regiments  arrived.  The  convention  had,  from  the 
first,  law  on  their  side;  and  in  order  to  preserve  this 
advantage  were  determined  to  offer  only  a  passive  re- 
sistance to  the  revenue  law,  and  to  abstain  from  vio- 
lence until  it  was  offered  to  them.  No  charge  of  high 
treason  would  stand  against  anyone.  The  anchoring 
of  the  squadron  off  Castle  William,  with  guns  trained 
on  the  State  House  had  no  effect.  On  the  first  of 
October,  in  compliance  with  an  order  from  Gage,  and 
in  the  absence  of  Bernard,  who  had  fled  to  the  country 
in  a  panic,  the  regiments  were  landed  at  Long  Wharf. 
With  military  music  playing,  fixed  bayonets  and  loaded 
guns,  they  marched  to  the  Common,  which  was 
whitened  by  their  tents.  An  artillery  train  was  also 
brought  ashore.  An  attempt  to  browbeat  the  people 
into  providing  quarters  failed,  and  the  officers  dared 
not  seize  them.  At  length  they  were  obliged  to  rent 
rooms,  and  some  of  the  men  were  lodged  in  the  State 
House,  as  the  weather  became  too  cold  for  outdoor 
encampment;  not  a  few  of  them  deserted,  and  escaped 
into  the  country.  But  Boston  was  under  military  rule, 
though  there  was  nothing  for  the  soldiers  to  do.  Senti- 
nels were  posted  about  the  town,  and  citizens  were 
challenged  as  they  walked  their  streets.  On  the  Sab- 
bath Day,  drums  and  bugles  disturbed  the  worshipers 
in  the  churches.  Officers  of  the  customhouse  and  army 
officers  met  at  the  British  Coffee  House  in  King  Street. 

357 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

On  the  south  side  of  the  State  House  was  a  court  of 
guard,  defended  by  two  brass  cannon,  and  a  large 
number  of  soldiers  were  kept  there;  in  front  of  the 
customhouse,  further  down  the  street,  a  sentinel  paced 
his  beat.  Boston  was  indignant,  but  restricted  itself 
to  ceasing  all  purchases  of  importations,  trusting  thus 
'to  wear  out  their  oppressors.  Some  of  the  younger 
men,  however,  were  becoming  restive  under  the  implied 
or  overt  insults  of  the  officers  and  soldiery,  and  there 
were  occasional  quarrels  which  might  develop  into 
something  more  serious.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the 
French  inhabitants  of  New  Orleans  rose  and  drove  out 
the  Spanish  Governor,  Ulloa;  and  Du  Chatelet  re- 
marked that  it  was  "a  good  example  for  the  English 
colonies."  But  Boston  needed  no  example ;  she  afforded 
one  in  herself.  All  the  other  colonies  had  indorsed  her 
attitude;  but  the  animosity  of  England  was  concen- 
trated against  her.  The  whole  kingdom  was  embattled 
against  the  one  small  town;  two  more  regiments  had 
been  sent  there,  but  no  rebellion  could  be  found.  Was 
it  the  purpose  to  provoke  one?  Soldiers,  from  time  to 
time,  were  arrested  for  misdemeanors,  and  brought  be- 
fore the  civil  magistrates,  but  were  pardoned,  when 
convicted,  by  the  higher  courts.  Samuel  Adams  and 
others,  on  the  other  hand,  continued  to  be  threatened 
with  prosecution  for  treason,  but  did  not  recede  from 
their  position.  Bernard,  Hutchinson,  Oliver,  and  the 
attorney  general  acted  as  secret  informers  and  pur- 
veyors of  evidence  against  the  patriots.  All  petitions 
from  the  colonies  addressed  to  the  English  Government 
were  refused  so  much  as  a  hearing.  And  yet  there  was 
a  strong  division  of  opinion  in  Parliament  as  to  the 
course  England  was  taking;  and  there  were  many  who 
wished  that  the  question  of  taxation  had  never  been 
raised.  In  1769,  it  was  conceded  that  the  duties  on  most 
specified  articles  should  be  abolished;  nevertheless, 
Hillsborough,  secretary  for  the  colonies,  said  that  he 
would  "grant  nothing  to  Americans  except  what  they 
might  ask  with  a  halter  round  their  necks";  and  the 
great  Samuel  Johnson  did  not  scruple  to  add  that 
"they  are  a  race  of  convicts,  and  ought  to  be  thank- 

358 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    RUBICON 

ful  for  anything  we  allow  them  short  of  hanging." 
Against  such  intemperate  vaporings  are  to  be  set  the 
noble  resolutions  of  the  Virginia  Assembly  of  which 
Jefferson,  Patrick  Henry,  and  Washington  were  mem- 
bers, extending  its  sympathy  and  support  to  Massa- 
chusetts, warning  King  George  against  carrying 
Americans  beyond  seas  for  trial,  and  advocating  colo- 
nial union.  This  was  the  more  admirable,  because  Eng- 
land had  treated  Virginia  with  especial  tenderness  and 
consideration.  Similar  resolutions  in  other  colonies 
followed,  and  a  regular  correspondence  between  the  as- 
semblies was  agreed  to.  The  folly  of  English  oppres- 
sion had  already  created  a  united  America. 

At  length  the  English  Government,  weakened  by  the 
opposition,  and  by  the  badness  of  their  cause,  agreed 
to  abolish  all  duties  except  that  on  tea,  which  was  now 
bought  cheaper  in  Boston  than  in  London ;  and  to  with- 
draw two  at  least  of  the  regiments.  But  Boston  was 
contending  for  a  principle,  not  for  a  few  hundred 
pounds,  and  refused  to  accept  the  tea  as  a  compromise. 
Much  more  conducive  to  good  feeling  was  the  recall  of 
Governor  Bernard,  just  as  he  was  making  himself  com- 
fortable for  a  long  tenure  of  office  under  the  protection 
of  British  soldiers.  This  man's  character  is  as  con- 
temptible as  any  in  colonial  history.  It  was  not  merely 
or  chiefly  that  he  was  an  abject  miser  and  a  foe  to 
liberty.  He  was  a  convicted  liar,  a  spy,  and  a  double- 
dealer;  and  his  cowardice  made  him  despised  even  by 
the  British.  He  did  not  scruple  at  swindling  the  British 
Government  by  conniving  at  smuggling,  while  assuring 
them  of  his  zeal  in  putting  it  down.  While  smiling  in 
men's  faces  he  was  covertly  laying  plots  for  their  de- 
struction. His  last  thought,  after  receiving  the  crush- 
ing news  of  his  recall,  was  to  try  to  beguile  the  As- 
sembly into  voting  him  his  salary  for  the  coming  year. 
The  attempt  failed  and  he  retreated  in  disgrace,  with 
joy  bells  ringing  in  his  ears.  His  only  consolation  was 
that  he  left  Hutchinson  in  his  place,  as  ill-disposed 
toward  liberty  and  honor  as  himself,  and  his  superior 
in  intelligence.  His  recall  had  been  due  to  the  desire 
of  London  merchants,  who  believed  that  his  presence 

359 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

was  destructive-  of  their  commercial  interests.  The 
ministers  for  whom  he  had  incurred  so  much  ignominy 
would  do  nothing  for  him ;  for  the  dishonorable  are  al- 
ways ready  to  sacrifice  their  instruments. 

Hutchinson  immediately  began  the  system  of  secret 
conspiracy  against  the  lives  and  liberties  of  the  chief 
citizens  of  Boston  which  marked  his  administration; 
flattering  them  in  their  presence,  while  writing  letters 
of  false  accusations  to  the  English  ministry,  which  he 
begged  them  never  to  disclose.  But  his  cowardice  was 
equal  to  Bernard's;  so  that  when  the  people  detected 
an  informer,  and  tarred  and  feathered  him,  he  dared 
not  order  the  English  regiments  to  interfere,  and  no 
one  else  was  qualified  to  give  the  word.  But  the  hatred 
between  the  soldiers  and  the  citizens  was  inflamed.  A 
British  officer  told  his  men,  if  they  were  "touched"  by 
a  citizen,  to  "run  him  through  the  body."  Many  young 
men  went  armed  with  oaken  cudgels. 

Two  sons  of  Hutchinson,  worthy  of  their  sire,  were 
guilty  of  felony  in  breaking  a  lock  to  get  at  a  consign- 
ment of  tea,  which  had  been  locked  up  by  the  committee 
of  merchants.  The  merchants  called  Hutchinson  to  ac- 
count; he  promised  to  deposit  the  price  of  what  tea 
had  been  sold  and  to  return  the  rest.  Dalrymple,  the 
commander,  issued  twelve  rounds  of  ammunition,  with 
which  the  soldiers  ostentatiously  paraded  the  streets. 
But  inasmuch  as  no  one  but  the  Governor  was  au- 
thorized to  bid  them  fire,  and  the  citizens  knew  Hutch- 
inson's  timidity  too  well  to  imagine  that  he  would  do 
such  a  thing,  this  only  led  to  taunts  and  revilings ;  and 
such  epithets  as  "lobster  backs"  and  "damned  rebels" 
were  freely  bandied  between  the  military  and  the 
young  men.  The  officers,made  common  cause  with  their 
men,  and  the  customhouse  people  fomented  the  bitter- 
ness. A  vague  plan  seems  to  have  been  formed  to  pro- 
voke the  citizens  into  attacking  the  military,  who  were 
then  to  fire,  and  plead  self-defense. 

On  Friday,  March  2,  1770,  some  soldiers  came  to 
blows  with  men  employed  on  a  ropewalk.  The  affair 
was  talked  over  in  the  barracks,  and  nothing  was  done 
to  restrain  the  desire  of  the  soldiers  for  revenge,  or  to 

360 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    RUBICON 

keep  them  off  the  streets  at  night.  On  the  5th,  squads 
of  them  were  forging  about,  armed  with  bludgeons, 
b;i  vonets  and  cutlasses,  boasting  of  their  "valor," 
challenging  the  people  they  met,  and  even  striking 
them.  Their  officers  openly  encouraged  them.  Their 
regiments  were  the  Fourteenth  and  the  Twenty-ninth, 
notorious  for  their  dissoluteness  and  disorderliness. 
The  night  was  cold,  and  a  few  inches  of  snow  fell. 
Other  groups  of  soldiers  came  out,  with  their  flintlocks 
in  their  hands :  a  boy  was  struck  on  the  head ;  several 
times  the  guns  were  leveled,  and  the  threat  was  made  to 
fire.  One  youth  was  knocked  down  with  a  cutlass. 
Knots  of  angry  young  men  began  to  range  hither  and 
thither  with  staves:  "Where  are  they?"  "Cowards!" 
"Fire  if  you  dare!"  "Lobster  scoundrels!"  The  sol- 
diers, on  the  other  hand,  were  giving  way  to  fury,  strik- 
ing persons  in  the  doors  of  their  houses,  calling  out  that 
they  would  kill  everybody,  and  shouting  "Fire — fire!" 
as  if  it  were  a  watchword.  But  as  yet  no  irrevocable 
act  had  been  done. 

'  Soon  after  nine  o'clock,  however,  the  alarm  bell  at 
the  top  of  King  Street  was  rung  hurriedly.  Many  per- 
sons thought  it  was  for  fire;  and  as  Boston  had  been 
nearly  destroyed  by  a  great  fire  ten  years  before,  a 
large  crowd  rapidly  poured  out  into  the  streets.  But 
the  frosty  air  carried  no  scent  of  smoke,  and  as  the  bell 
soon  stopped  its  clangor,  a  number  returned  to  their 
homes;  but  the  younger  and  more  hot-headed  smelled 
mischief,  if  not  smoke,  and  drew  from  various  direc- 
tions toward  the  barracks.  A  party  of  them  came  down 
King  Street  toward  the  customhouse.  They  were  halted 
by  the  gruff  "Who  goes  there?"  of  the  sentry,  and  his 
bayonet  at  their  breasts. 

There  were  words  of  defiance:  a  sudden  scuffle:  and 
out  of  the  barrack  gate  came  pouring  the  guard,  with 
gUHS  in  their  hands.  Almost  in  the  same  moment  a 
great  multitude  of  citizens  came  surging  in  from  all 
sides,  and  thronged  in  front  of  the  customhouse,  where 
the  fight  seemed  to  be  going  on.  Those  behind  pushed 
against  those  in  front,  and  all  became  wedged  in  a 
mass,  trying  to  see  what  was  going  forward,  swaying 

361 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

this  way  and  that,  uttering  broken  shouts,  threatening, 
warning,  asking,  replying;  and  hot  at  heart  with  that 
fierce  craving  to  measure  strength  against  strength 
which  is  the  characteristic  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  when 
his  blood  is  up.  The  soldiers  were  wholly  in  the  wrong : 
they  had  no  right  to  be  where  they  were;  they  had  no 
right  to  wantonly  annoy  and  provoke  citizens  in  their 
own  town;  their  presence  in  the  colony,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  constraining  a  peaceful  population,  was  a 
crime;  but  consciousness  of  this  fact  did  not  lessen 
their  animosity.  As  for  the  Boston  people,  they  felt, 
a$  they  faced  the  emissaries  of  their  oppressors  on  that 
wintry  night,  the  accumulated  exasperation  of  gen- 
erations of  injustice,  and  perhaps  a  stern  thrill  of  joy 
that  now,  at  last,  the  final,  unforgivable  outrage  was 
to  be  perpetrated. 

The  great  majority  of  citizens  had  not  even  sticks  in 
their  hands;  none  of  them  carried  guns  or  cutlasses. 
Some  snowballs  were  thrown  at  the  soldiers,  who  faced 
the  crowd  with  savage  faces,  and  leveled  bayonets. 
Then  there  was  a  fresh  crowding  and  uproar,  for  Cap- 
tain Preston  and  a  squad  of  eight  men  had  issued  from 
the  guard  house  and  were  forcing  their  way  to  their 
comrades  with  the  point  of  the  cold  steel.  Their  red 
coats  and  black  shakos  and  the  glint  of  the  moonlight 
on  their  weapons  made  them  conspicuous  in  the  strug- 
gling mass,  and  the  sinister  intent  which  was  manifest 
in  their  look  and  bearing  sent  a  strange  thrill  through 
the  multitude. 

A  tall  man  in  a  black  cloak,  who  five  years  later  was 
a  general  of  artillery  in  the  American  army,  laid  his 
hand  on  Preston's  shoulder  forcibly.  "For  God's  sake, 
sir,  get  back  to  your  barracks;  if  you  fire,  you  must 
die  for  it!"  exclaimed  he,  in  a  deep  voice.  Preston 
stared  at  him,  hardly  seeming  to  see  him,  and  quivering 
with  agitation.  "Stand  aside — I  know  what  I'm  about," 
he  replied  huskily.  As  the  soldiers  reached  the  sen- 
tinel's post  and  faced  about  in  a  semicircle,  the  crowd 
fell  back,  and  there  were  voices  calling  "Home — home !" 
The  soldiers  began  to  load,  pouring  the  powder  and 
ball  into  the  muzzles  of  their  guns,  and  ramming  the 

362 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    RUBICON 

charge  home  sharply  with  their  ramrods.  At  this,  a 
dozen  men,  with  cudgels,  advanced  upon  the  soldiers, 
cheering,  and  passed  in  front  of  them,  striking  the 
barrels  of  their  muskets  with  their  sticks.  "Cowardly 
rascals! — drop  your  guns,  and  we're  ready  for  you," 
said  some  between  their  gritted  teeth.  "Fire,  lobsters! 
— you  daren't  fire!"  cried  others.  "Down  with  'em! 
drive  the  cowards  to  their  barracks!"  shouted  some. 
"Are  your  men  loaded?"  demanded  a  citizen,  stepping 
up  to  Preston;  and  when  the  latter  nodded —  "Will 
they  fire  upon  the  inhabitants?"  "Not  without  my 
orders,"  the  captain  seemed  to  say.  "Come  on,  you 
rasi  -a  Is — fire  if  you  dare — you  daren't  fire!"  yelled  the 
fiercer  spirits,  now  beside  themselves  with  passion; 
and  one  struck  a  soldier's  piece.  He  leveled  it  and 
fired,  at  the  same  moment  that  Preston  waved  his 
sword  and  gave  the  word.  A  man  fell  at  the  shot:  the 
people  gave  back;  the  other  soldiers  fired  deliberately 
and  viciously,  not  in  a  volley,  but  one  after  another, 
taking  aim.  Some  of  them  started  forward  to  use  the 
bayonet.  It  is  said  that  a  figure  was  seen  to  come  out 
on  the  balcony  of  the  customhouse,  his  face  concealed 
by  a  veil  hanging  down  over  it,  and  fire  into  the  re- 
i  n-.il  ing  throng.  The  open  space  in  front  of  the  soldiers 
was  overhung  with  smoke,  which  slowly  dissolved  away, 
and  revealed  eleven  New  Englanders  stretched  along 
the  trodden  snow  of  their  native  town.  Some  tried  to 
rise;  others  lay  still.  Blood  flowed  from  their  wounds, 
smoking  in  the  icy  air,  and  tinging  the  white  snow  red. 
The  deed  had  been  done. 

A  sullen  muttering  of  horror,  swelling  by  degrees  into 
a  roar  of  rage,  burst  from  hundreds  of  throats  as  that 
spectacle  was  seen;  and  in  a  moment,  as  it  seemed, 
the  town  drums  had  beat  to  arms,  the  bells  were  clang- 
ing, and  all  Boston  was  pressing  tumultuously  into 
King  Street.  The  Twenty-ninth  Regiment  was  hur- 
riedly marshaled  under  arms;  it  appeared  at  first  as  if 
the  populace,  thousands  strong,  and  not  without  weap- 
ons, would  rush  upon  them  and  tear  them  in  pieces. 
But  by  this  time  the  saner  and  stronger  men  had 
reached  the  scene,  and  set  themselves  resolutely  to 

363 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

withhold  the  people.  "You  shall  have  justice,"  they 
told  them,  "but  let  it  be  by  due  course  of  law."  And 
there  was  Hutchinson,  promising  everything  in  his  dis- 
may, hurrying  between  the  soldiers  and  the  crowd,  his 
feet  making  bloodstained  marks  in  the  snow  as  he 
went.  To  no  man  more  than  to  him  was  due  the  guilt 
of  that  night's  work. 

Prompt  and  clean  measures  were  taken:  a  town 
meeting  was  held,  and  the  immediate  withdrawal  of 
all  troops  from  Boston  was  required.  The  wretched 
Hutchinson  tried  to  temporize:  he  denied  that  he  had 
power  to  move  the  soldiers;  then  he  consented  to  send 
one  regiment  away,  letting  the  other  remain ;  the  peo- 
ple would  accept  no  compromise ;  Dalrymple  said  that 
he  would  do  as  the  Governor  directed.  Samuel  Adams 
and  Hutchinson  finally  faced  each  other  in  Faneuil 
Hall.  "If  you  have  power  to  remove  one  regiment,  you 
have  power  to  remove  both,"  said  Adams,  in  a  low  but 
distinct  voice,  pointing  his  finger  at  the  other.  "Here 
are  three  thousand  people:  they  are  becoming  very 
impatient:  the  country  is  in  general  motion:  night  is 
approaching:  an  immediate  answer  is  expected:  it  is 
at  your  peril  if  you  refuse."  And  describing  the  scene 
afterward,  Adams  said :  "At  the  appearance  of  the  de- 
termined citizens,  peremptorily  demanding  redress  of 
grievances,  I  saw  his  knees  tremble  and  his  face  grow 
pale :  and  I  enjoyed  the  sight !"  Truly,  it  was  a  subject 
for  a  great  artist  to  immortalize.  The  troops  must  go : 
and  they  went/  choking  with  humiliation. 

The  news  of  this  affair  in  England  shocked  the  more 
reasonable  people,  and  led  to  criticism  of  the  ministers ; 
but  Lord  North,  supported  by  the  King,  would  not  con- 
sent to  remove  the  tax  on  tea.  He  made  it  "a  test  of 
authority,"  and  a  punishment  for  "American  inso- 
lence." It  was  an  expensive  punishment  for  England; 
the  cost  of  keeping  an  army  in  the  colonies,  and  other 
incidental  expenses,  footed  up  about  half  a  million  dol- 
lars, against  a  revenue  from  duties  of  four  hundred 
dollars  only.  Americans  got  their  tea  from  the  Dutch 
by  smuggling  and  by  corrupt  connivance  of  the  English 
customs  officers;  and  the  loss  of  the  English  East 

364 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    KUBICON 

India  Company  was  estimated  at  two  and  a  half  mil- 
lion dollars  at  least.  There  was  great  uneasiness  at 
this  absurd  showing;  and  Burke  declared  that  "the  idea 
of  a  military  establishment  in  America  is  all  wrong." 
Lord  Chatham,  reading  the  letters  from  Boston  patri- 
ots, and  resolutions  of  assemblies,  remarked,  "These 
worthy  New  Englanders  ever  feel  as  Old  Englanders 
ought  to  feel."  The  colonists,  however,  zealous  as  they 
were  for  their  liberties,  were  ready  to  meet  halfway 
any  effort  toward  conciliation  on  England's  part.  The 
agreement  to  accept  no  British  imports  was  but  slackly 
kept,  in  spite  of  protests  from  South  Carolina  and  else- 
where. The  people  were  wearied  of  strife  and  would 
have  welcomed  any  honorable  means  of  peace.  In  this 
juncture,  two  things  only  kept  alive  the  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence; neither  would  have  sufficed  apart  from  the 
other.  The  first  was  the  pig-headedness  of  the  English 
Government,  with  the  King  at  the  head  of  it,  and  men 
like  Thurlow,  an  irreconcilable  foe  to  America,  assist- 
ing; together  with  the  conspiracy  against  the  colonies 
of  the  royal  governors  and  officials,  who  sent  home 
false  and  exaggerated  reports,  all  aiming  to  show  that 
martial  law  was  the  only  thing  that  could  insure  order 
— or,  in  other  words,  secure  them  their  salaries  and  per- 
quisites. These  persons,  by  continually  irritating  the 
raw  place,  prevented  the  colonists  from  forgetting  their 
injuries.  In  South  Carolina,  Governor  Tryon,  a  bloody- 
minded  Irishman,  went  further;  he  took  the  field 
against  the  "Regulators" — a  body  of  citizens  who  had 
organized  to  counteract  the  lawlessness  of  the  inter- 
nal conduct  of  the  colony — and  after  a  skirmish  took 
a  number  of  them  prisoners  and  hanged  them  out  of 
hand ;  most  of  the  rest,  to  save  their  lives,  took  to  the 
woods  and,  journeying  westward,  came  upon  the  lovely 
vales  of  Tennessee,  which  was  thus  settled.  Daniel 
Boone  had^already  made  himself  at  home  in  Kentucky. 
In  Virginia,  where  the  people  Were  disposed  to  loyalty, 
the  agitation  to  do  away  with  slavery,  both  on  practical 
and  moral  grounds,  was  harshly  opposed  by  England, 
and  the  other  colonies,  sympathizing  with  her  action, 
were  snubbed  along  with  her.  In  short,  the  pompous 

365 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

and  hidebound  Hillsborough  followed  everywhere  the 
policy  of  alienation,  under  the  impression  that  he  was 
maintaining  English  dignity. 

But  all  this  would  not  have  sufficed  to  keep  the  colo- 
nies on  their  course  toward  independence,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  ceaseless  vigilance  and  foresight  of 
Samuel  Adams  in  Boston,  Benjamin  Franklin  in.  Lon- 
don, and  the  small  but  eminent  band  of  patriots  whom 
they  worked  with.  Adams,  profoundly  meditating  on 
the  signs  of  the  times  and  the  qualities  of  human  na- 
ture, perceived  that  England  would  continue  to  oppress, 
and  that  the  longer  the  colonies  abstained  from  open  re- 
sistance, the  more  difficult  would  the  inevitable  revolt 
become.  He  did  not  hesitate,  therefore,  to  speak  in  ever 
plainer  and  bolder  terms  as  the  peril  augmented.  Rea- 
son was  on  his  side,  and  his  command  of  logic  and  of 
terse  and  telling  language  enabled  him  to  set  his  cause 
in  the  most  effective  light.  By  drawing  a  distinction 
between  the  K^ng  and  his  ministers,  he  opened  the  way 
to  arraign  the  latter  for  their  "wickedness"  in  sending 
an  "impudent  mandate"  to  one  Assembly  to  rescind  the 
lawful  resolution  of  another.  The  too  eager  Hutchinson 
fell  into  the  trap,  and  pointed  out  that  it  was  the  King, 
rather  than  the  ministry,  who  must  be  charged  with 
impudence.  But  this  was  not  to  disprove  the  im- 
pudence; it  was  simply  to  make  the  King  instead  of 
the  ministry  obnoxious  to  the  charge,  and  to  enlighten 
the  people  as  to  wh6  their  real  enemy  was.  "The  King," 
said  Adams,  "has  placed  us  in  a  position  where  we 
must  either  pay  no  tax  at  all,  or  pay  it  in  accordance 
with  his  good  pleasure" — against  the  charter  and  the 
Constitution.  "The  liberties  of  our  country,"  he  went 
on,  "are  worth  defending  at  all  hazards.  Every  step 
has  been  taken  but  one:  and  the  last  appeal  requires 
prudence,  fortitude  and  unanimity.  America  must  her- 
self, under  God,  work  out  her  own  salvation."  He  set 
resolutely  to  work  to  put  into  execution  his  plan  of  a 
committee  of  correspondence,  to  elicit  and  stimulate 
the  patriotic  views  of  the  various  colonies.  "The  peo- 
ple must  instruct  their  representatives  to  send  a  remon- 
strance to  the  King,  and  assure  him,  unless  their  liber- 

366 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    RUBICON 

ties  are  immediately  restored  whole  and  entire,  they 
will  form  an  independent  commonwealth,  and  offer  a 
free  trade  to  all  nations."  "It  is  more  than  time," 
Adams  wrote  to  Warren,  "to  be  rid  of  both  tyrants  and 
tyranny."  He  prepared  a  statement  of  rights,  among 
which  was  the  right  to  change  allegiance  in  case  op- 
pression became  intolerable,  and  to  rescue  and  pre- 
serve their  liberties  sword  in  hand.  A  detailed  state- 
ment of  grievances  was  also  drawn  up,  to  be  submitted 
to  the  King;  its  specifications  were  no  doubt  familiar 
to  Jefferson,  when  he  wrote  the  "Declaration"  four 
years  later.  This  document  was  circulated  throughout 
the  colony,  and  was  indorsed  with  unexpected  enthusi- 
asm by  scores  of  towns;  many  of  them,  with  rustic 
bluntness,  telling  their  thoughts  in  language  even 
stronger  than  that  of  their  model.  The  fishermen  of 
Mmhlehead  (of  whom  history  says  not  much,  but  what- 
ever is  said  is  memorable)  affirmed  that  they  were 
"incensed  at  the  unconstitutional,  unrighteous  pro- 
ceedings of  the  ministers,  detested  the  name  of  Hills- 
borough,  and  were  ready  to  unite  for  the  recovery  of 
their  violated  rights."  In  Plymouth,  "ninety  to  one 
were  for  fighting  Great  Britain."  The  village  of  Pem- 
broke, inhabited  by  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims,  said 
that  the  oppressions  which  existed  must  and  would 
issno  in  the  total  dissolution  of  the  union  between  the 
mother  country  and  the  colonies.  "Death  is  more  eligi- 
ble than  slavery."  said  Marlborough;  and  Lenox  refused 
to  "crouch,  Issacharlike,  between  the  two  burdens  of 
poverty  and  slavery."  There  was  no  doubt  about  the 
sentiment  of  the  country;  and  the  hands  of  Adams  and 
his  colleagues  were  immensely  strengthened  by  the 
revelation. 

In  the  spring  of  1773  the  next  step  was  taken  by 
Virginia.  Young  Dabney  Carr  rose  in  the  Assembly 
and  moved  a  system  of  correspondence  between  all  the 
colonies  similar  to  that  which  had  been  established  in 
Massachusetts.  In  other  words,  the  intercommunica- 
tion of  councils  in  all  the  colonies  was  organized,  and 
when  these  councils  should  meet,  the  Continental  Con- 
gress would  exist.  The  response  was  earnest  and 

367 


HISTOEY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

cordial  from  Georgia  to  Maine.  Things  were  rapidly 
shaping  themselves  for  the  end.  If  anything  more  were 
needed  to  consolidate  England's  offspring  against  her, 
it  was  not  wanting.  Hutchinson,  the  veteran  plotter 
and  self-seeker,  who  never  did  a  generous  or  magnani- 
mous act,  who  stabbed  men  in  the  back,  and  who  valued 
money  more  than  country  or  honor,  was  exposed  to  the 
contempt  of  all  men  both  in  America  and  England,  and 
was  forced  to  resign  his  governorship  in  disgrace  and 
to  fly  to  England,  where  he  died  a  few  years  later. 
Franklin  was  the  immediate  means  of  his  downfall.  A 
member  of  Parliament  had  remarked  to  him  in  con- 
versation that  the  alleged  grievances  of  which  the 
colonists  complained  had  not  been  inflicted  by  any 
English  initiative,  but  were  the  result  of  solicitation 
from  the  most  respectable  of  the  colonists  themselves, 
who  had  affirmed  these  measures  to  be  essential  to  the 
welfare  of  the  country.  Franklin  lifted  his  eyebrows; 
upon  which  his  interlocutor  produced  a  number  of 
Hutchinson's  secret  letters  to  Hillsborough.  They 
proved  a  conspiracy,  on  the  part  of  Hutchinson,  Oliver, 
and  others,  to  crush  American  liberty  and  introduce 
military  rule:  they  were  treasonable  in  the  worst  sense. 
Franklin  remarked,  after  reading  them,  that  his  resent- 
ment against  England's  arbitrary  conduct  was  much 
abated;  since  it  was  now  evident  that  the  oppression 
had  been  suggested  and  urged  by  Americans  whom 
England  must  have  supposed  represented  the  better 
class  of  the  colonists.  He  sent  the  letters  to  Boston ; 
and  "as  to  the  writers/'  he  wrote,  "when  I  find  them 
bartering  away  the  liberties  of  their  native  country  for 
posts,  negotiating  for  salaries  and  pensions  extorted 
from  the  people,  and,  conscious  of  the  odium  these 
might  be  attended  with,  calling  for  troops  to  protect 
and  secure  them  in  the  enjoyment  of  them — when  I 
see  them  exciting  jealousies  in  the  Crown,  and  provok- 
ing it  to  wrath  against  so  great  a  part  of  its  most  faith- 
ful subjects;  creating  enmities  between  the  different 
countries  of  which  the  Empire  consists ;  occasioning  a 
great  expense  to  the  old  country  for  suppressing  or 
preventing  imaginary  rebellions  in  the  new,  and  to  the 

368 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    RUBICON 

rrew  country  for  the  payment  of  needless  gratifications 
to  useless  officers  and  enemies — I  cannot  but  doubt 
their  sincerity  even  in  the  political  principles  they 
profess,  and  deem  them  mere  timeservers,  seeking 
their  own  private  emoluments  through  any  quantity 
of  public  mischief;  betrayers  of  the  interest  not  of 
their  native  country  only,  but  of  the  Government 
they  pretend  to  serve,  and  of  the  whole  English 
Empire." 

The  letters  were  read  in  the  Assembly  in  secret  ses- 
sion. But  in  the  meanwhile  Hutchinson  had  been  led 
into  another  mistake.  He  had  denied,  in  his  speech  to 
the  Legislature,  that  any  line  could  be  drawn  between 
the  supreme  authority  of  Parliament  and  the  total  in- 
dependence of  the  colonies.  Either  yield,  then  (he 
said) ,  or  convince  me  of  error.  The  terrible  Adams  asked 
nothing  better.  Accepting  Hutchinson's  alternative,  he 
answered,  "If  there  be  no  such  line  between  Parlia- 
ment's supreme  authority  and  our  total  independence, 
then  are  we  either  vassals  of  Parliament  or  inde- 
pendent. But  since  the  parties  to  the  compact  cannot 
have  intended  that  one  of  them  should  be  vassals,  it 
follows  that  our  independence  was  intended.  If,  as  you 
contend,  two  independent  legislatures  cannot  coexist 
in  one  and  the  same  State,  then  have  our  charters  made 
us  distinct  States  from  England."  Thus  had  the  gov- 
ernor unwittingly  pointed  his  opponent's  spear,  and, 
instead  of  driving  him  to  attack  Parliament,  been 
placed  in  the  position  of  implicitly  questioning  its 
authority  himself. 

But  this  was  nothing  compared  with  the  revelation 
of  his  treacherous  letters.  His  first  instinct,  of  course, 
was  falsehood.  "I  never  wrote  any  letter  tending  to 
subvert  the  Constitution,"  he  asseverated.  Being  con- 
fronted with  his  own  sign  manual,  "Their  design,"  he 
cried,  "is  not  to  subvert  but  to  protect."  But  he  knew 
he  was  ruined,  and  sent  word  to  his  correspondents  in 
England  to  burn  the  letters  they  held.  The  letters  were 
published,  and  distributed  all  over  the  colonies.  Not  a 
man  or  woman  in  the  country  but  knew  Hutchinson 
for  the  dastardly  traitor  he  was.  A  petition  to  remove 

369 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

him  and  Oliver  was  sent  to  the  King,  but  he  hastened 
to  submit  his  resignation  with  a  whining  entreaty  that 
he  be  not  "left  destitute,  to  be  insulted  and  triumphed 
over."  And  bringing  false  charges  against  Franklin, 
he  begged  to  receive  the  latter's  office  of  deputy  post- 
master general. 

Before  this  matter  could  be  settled,  affairs  in  Boston 
had  come  to  a  crisis.  The  East  India  Company  had 
large  consignments  of  tea  ready  for  shipment  to  the 
principal  towns  along  the  American  Coast.  The  latter 
warned  them  of  loss,  but  Lord  North  said  "The  King 
means  to  try  this  question  with  America."  It  was  seen 
that  the  connection  between  England  and  her  colonies 
could  be  continued  only  on  a  basis  of  equal  liberties, 
and  "Resist  all  shipments  of  tea !"  was  the  word.  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  settled  the  matter  by  command- 
ing all  consignees  to  resign,  which  they  did;  but  this 
was  not  to  be  the  solution  in  Boston.  When,  on  Novem- 
ber 28,  the  Dartmouth,  Captain  Rotch,  arrived  with 
one  hundred  and  fourteen  cases  of  tea,  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people  ordered  him  not  to  enter  till  Tues- 
day, the  30th.  Four  weeks  before  a  meeting  at  Liberty 
Tree  had  been  summoned,  and  the  consignees  directed 
to  attend  and  resign.  The  meeting  was  held,  but  Clarke 
and  the  other  consignees  had  refused  to  recognize  its 
authority.  They  now  temporized,  and  were  granted  a 
day  to  consider:  meanwhile  a  guard  was  kept  on  the 
ship.  The  next  day  the  consignees  proposed  to  suspend 
action  until  they  could  write  to  the  exporters  for  ad- 
vice; but  this  was  seen  to  be  a  subterfuge  and  was  in- 
dignantly refused.  Rotch  agreed  to  take  the  tea  back ; 
but  the  customhouse  refused  him  a  clearance.  For  if 
the  ship  remained  in  port,  with  her  cargo  undischarged 
twenty  days,  the  authorities  could  seize  and  land  it  by 
law.  If  then  the  people  were  to  prevail,  they  must  do 
so  within  that  time.  It  seemed  as  if  the}'  must  be  de- 
feated ;  for  if  the  consignees  would  not  resign,  and  the 
ship  could  not  get  a  clearance,  nothing  but  a  direct 
violation  of  the  law  could  prevent  the  tea  from  being 
landed.  To  make  assurance  surer,  two  frigates  kept 
guard  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  and  the  guns  of  the 

370 


THE    PASSING    OF   THE   RUBICON 

Castle  were  loaded.  The  governor  and  the  officers  were 
already  chuckling  over  their  anticipated  victory. 

Adams  and  the  committee  of  correspondence  met,  in 
secret  session,  and  what  they  determined  never  has 
transpired  and  can  be  surmised  by  inference  only.  On 
Thursday,  December  16,  a  great  meeting  was  called  in 
the  Old  South  Church.  Thousands  of  people  from  sur- 
rounding towns  were  in  attendance;  the  willingness 
and  eagerness  of  them  all  to  resist  at  the  cost  of  their 
lives  and  fortunes  had  been  abundantly  expressed.  Had 
there  been  an  armed  force  with  which  they  could  have 
fought,  the  way  would  have  been  easy;  but  there  was 
nothing  palpable  here :  only  that  intangible  law,  which 
they  had  never  yet  broken,  and  their  uniform  loyalty 
to  it  which,  in  their  disputes  with  England,  had  given 
them  strength  and  advantage.  Must  they  defy  it  now, 
in  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  engage  in  a  scuffle  with 
the  King's  officers  in  which  the  latter  would  be  techni- 
cally at  least  in  the  right?  No  doubt  they  might  pre- 
vail:  but  would  not  the  moral  defeat  counterbalance 
the  gain? 

"Throw  it  overboard!"  Young  had  exclaimed  at  a 
meeting  two  weeks  before.  The  suggestion  had  seemed 
to  pass  unheeded;  but  this  was  a  crisis  when  every 
proposition  must  be  considered.  Josiah  Quincy  and 
other  speakers  set  clearly  before  the  multitude  the 
dilemma  in  which  they  stood.  Rotch  had  been  dis- 
patched to  Milton,  where  the  Governor  had  taken 
refuge,  to  ask  for  a  pass  out  of  the  harbor,  this  being 
the  last  resort  after  the  refusal  of  clearance  papers. 
The  short  winter  day  drew  to  a  close;  darkness  fell, 
and  the  church,  filled  with  that  great  throng  of  reso- 
lute New  Englanders,  was  lighted  only  by  a  few  wax 
candles,  whose  dim  flare  flickered  on  the  stern  and  anx- 
ious countenances  that  packed  the  pews  and  crowded 
the  aisles,  and  upon  Adams,  Young,  Quincy,  Hancock, 
and  the  other  leaders,  grouped  round  the  pulpit.  They 
were  in  the  house  of  God:  would  He  provide  help  for 
His  people?  A  few  hours  more,  and  the  cargo  in  yonder 
ship  would  lapse  into  the  hands  of  the  British  admiral. 
The  meeting  had  given  its  final,  unanimous  vote  that 

371 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  cargo  never  should  be  landed;  but  what  measures 
were  to  be  taken  to  prevent  it  was  known  to  but  few. 

It  was  near  six  when  a  commotion  at  the  door  re- 
solved itself  into  the  ushering  in  of  Kotch,  panting 
from  his  ten-mile  ride  in  the  frosty  air;  he  made  his 
way  up  the  aisle,  and  delivered  his  report :  the  Governor 
had  refused  the  pass.  No  other  reply  had  been  looked 
for;  but  at  the  news  a  silence  fell  upon  the  grim  As- 
sembly, which  felt  that  it  was  now  face  to  face  with 
the  sinister  power  of  the  King.  Then,  of  a  sudden, 
loud  shouts  came  from  the  lower  part  of  the  church, 
near  the  open  door;  and  even  as  Adams  rose  to  his 
feet  and  throwing  up  his  arm,  called  out,  "This  meet- 
ing can  do  nothing  more  to  save  the  country" — there 
was  heard  from  without  the  shrill,  reduplicating  yell 
of  the  Indian  war  whoop ;  and  dusky  figures  were  seen 
to  pass,  their  faces  grisly  with  streaks  of  black  and  red, 
feathers  tossing  in  their  hair,  and  blankets  gathered 
round  their  shoulders;  each,  as  he  passed  through  the 
dim  light  ray,  swung  his  hatchet,  uttered  his  war  cry, 
and  was  swallowed  up  in  darkness  again.  Out  poured 
the  multitude  from  the  church,  startled,  excited,  mysti- 
fied, obscurely  feeling  that  some  decisive  act  was  about 
to  be  done:  and  here  are  Adams  and  Hancock  among 
them,  cheering  on  that  strange  procession  which  passed 
down  toward  the  wharves  swiftly,  two  by  two,  and  seem- 
ing to  increase  in  numbers  as  they  passed.  After  them 
streamed  the  people,  murmuring  and  questioning, 
through  the  winter  gloom  of  the  ^narrow  street,  until 
the  high-shouldered  houses  fell  away,  and  there  were 
the  wide  reaches  of  the  harbor,  with  the  ships  lying  at 
Griffin's  Wharf  amid  the  cakes  of  ice  that  swung  up 
and  down  with  the  movement  of  the  tide.  As  they  came 
there,  a  strange  silence  fell  upon  all,  amid  which  the 
Indians — were  they  Indians? — swung  themselves  light- 
ly aboard  the  vessels,  and  went  swiftly  and  silently  to 
work.  Up  from  the  hold  came  case  after  case  of  tea, 
which  were  seized  and  broken  open  by  the  hatchets,  the 
sound  of  their  breaking  being  clearly  audible  in  the 
tense  stillness;  and  the  black  contents  were  showered 
into  the  waters.  Minute  after  minute,  hour  after  hour 

372 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    RUBICON 

went  by,  and  still  the  wild  figures  worked,  and  still 
the  multitude  looked  on,  forgetful  of  the  cold,  their 
hearts  beating  higher  and  fuller  with  exultation  as 
they  saw  the  hated  cargo  disappear.  It  was  all  but 
ten  of  the  clock  before  the  last  hatchet  stroke  that 
smote  the  King's  fetters  from  Massachusetts  had 
been  delivered;  and  then  the  feathered  and  painted 
figures  leaped  ashore,  drawing  their  blankets  round 
their  faces,  and  melted  silently  into  the  crowd,  and 
were  lost,  never  again  to  reappear.  Who  were  they? 
Never  was  secret  better  kept ;  after  seven  score  years  we 
know  as  little  as  did  King  George's  officers  on  that 
night.  They  seemed  to  have  sprung  into  existence  solely 
to  do  that  one  bold  deed,  and  then  to  vanish  like  a 
dream.  But  the  deed  was  no  dream;  nor  its  sequel. 
No  blood  was  shed  on  the  night  of  the  16th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1773:  but  Massachusetts,  and  through  her  the 
other  colonies,  then  and  there  gave  notice  to  King 
George  that  he  had  passed  the  limits  which  they  had 
appointed  for  his  tyranny ;  and  the  next  argument  must 
be  held  at  the  musket's  mouth. 


373 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

FRANKLIN  was  sixty-seven  years  of  age  at  this 
time;  no  man  was  then  alive  more  worthy  than 
he  of  honor  and  veneration.  For  twenty  years  he 
had  guarded  the  interests  of  America  in  England ;  and 
while  he  had  been  unswerving  in  his  wise  solicitude  for 
the  colonies,  he  had  ever  been  heedful  to  avoid  all 
needless  offense  to  England.  The  best  men  there  were 
the  men  who  held  Franklin  in  highest  esteem  as  a 
politician,  a  philosopher,  and  a  man ;  and  in  France  he 
was  regarded  as  a  superior  being.  No  other  man  could 
have  filled  his  place  as  agent  of  the  colonies;  no  other 
had  his  sagacity,  his  experience,  his  wisdom,  his  ad- 
dress. He  was  not  of  that  class  of  diplomatists  who 
surround  every  subject  they  handle  with  a  tissue  of  il- 
lusion or  falsehood;  Franklin  was  always  honest  and 
undisguised  in  his  transactions ;  so  that  what  was  long 
afterward  said  of  a  lesser  man  was  true  of  him :  "What- 
ever record  spring  to  light,  he  never  will  be  shamed." 
No  service  rendered  by  him  to  his  country  was  more 
useful  than  the  exposure  of  Hutchinson ;  none  was  more 
incumbent  on  him,  as  protector  of  colonial  affairs.  But 
in  the  rage  which  possessed  the  English  ministry  upon 
learning  how  Massachusetts  had  parried  the  attack 
made  upon  her  liberties,  some  immediate  victim  was 
indispensable;  and  as  Franklin  was  there  present,  they 
fell  upon  him.  A  fluent  and  foul-mouthed  young  bar- 
rister, Alexander  Wedderburn  by  name,  had  by  corrupt 
influence  secured  the  post  of  solicitor  general;  and  he 
made  use  of  the  occasion  of  Franklin's  submitting  the 
petition  for  the  removal  of  Hutchinson  and  Oliver  to 
make  a  personal  attack  upon  him,  which  was  half 
falsehood  and  half  ribaldry.  He  pretended  that  the 
Hutchinson  letters  had  been  dishonorably  acquired, 

374 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

and  that  their  publication  was  an  outrage  on  private 
ownership.  Incidentally  he  painted  Hutchinson  as  a 
true  patriot  and  savior  of  his  country;  and  called 
Franklin  an  incendiary,  a  traitor,  a  hypocrite,  who 
should  find  a  fitting  termination  of  his  career  on  the 
gallows.  This  billingsgate  was  heaped  upon  him  before 
an  unusually  full  meeting  of  the  lords  of  the  privy 
council,  the  highest  court  of  appeal;  and  they  laughed 
and  cheered,  while  the  venerable  envoy  of  the  colonies 
stood  "conspicuously  erect,"  facing  them  with  a  steady 
countenance.  Such,  and  of  such  temper,  were  the  aris- 
tocratic rulers  of  England  and  of  America  (if  she 
would  be  ruled)  at  this  epoch. 

America's  friends  in  England  were  still  stanch;  but 
the  ministry  found  no  difficulty  in  giving  events  a  color 
which  irritated  the  English  people  at  large  against  the 
colonies,  and  against  Boston  in  particular;  and  they 
had  little  trouble  in  securing  the  passage  of  the  Boston 
fort  Bill,  the  effect  of  which  was  to  close  the  largest 
and  busiest  port  in  the  colonies  against  all  commerce 
whatsoever.  Fuller  said  that  it  could  not  be  put  in 
execution  but  by  a  military  force ;  to  which  Lord  North 
answered,  "I  shall  not  hesitate  to  enforce  a  due  obedi- 
ence to  the  laws  of  this  country."  Another  added, 
"You  will  never  meet  with  proper  obedience  until  you 
have  destroyed  that  nest  of  locusts."  Lord  George 
Germain,  speaking  of  revoking  the  Massachusetts 
charter,  said,  "Whoever  wishes  to  preserve  such  char- 
ters, I  wish  him  no  worse  than  to  govern  such  subjects." 
The  act  passed  both  houses  without  a  division,  and 
Gage  was  appointed  military  Governor  in  place  of 
Hutchinson,  who  was  recalled;  and  four  regiments 
were  quartered  in  Boston.  The  wharves  were  empty  and 
deserted ;  the  streets  were  dull,  the  shops  were  closed ; 
but  the  British  Coffee  House  in  King  Street  was  gay 
once  more;  and  King  George  in  London  felt  that  he 
was  having  his  revenge,  though  he  was  paying  a  round 
price  for  it.  But  Boston,  having  shown  that  she  could 
do  without  tea,  and  without  commerce,  was  now  about 
to  show  that  she  could  also  do  without  George. 

Nobody  but  Americans  could  govern  America.  The 

375 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

people  were  too  intelligent,  too  active,  too  various 
minded,  too  full  of  native  quality  and  genius  to  be 
ruled  from  abroad.  If  they  were  to  fall  under  foreign 
subjection,  they  would  become  a  dead  weight  in  the 
world  instead  of  a  source  of  life ;  as  Adams  said,  every 
increase  in  population  would  be  but  an  increase  of 
slaves.  And  that  they  preferred  death  to  slavery  was 
every  day  becoming  increasingly  manifest.  They  felt 
that  the  future  was  in  them,  and  that  they  must  have 
space  and  freedom  to  bring  it  forth;  and  it  is  one  of 
the  paradoxes  of  history  that  England,  to  whom  they 
stood  in  blood  relationship,  from  whom  they  derived 
the  instinct  for  liberty,  should  have  attempted  to  re- 
duce them  to  the  most  absolute  bondage  anywhere 
known,  except  in  the  colonies  of  Spain.  She  was  actu- 
ated partly  by  the  pride  of  authority,  centered  in 
George  III,  and  from  him  percolating  into  his  creatures 
in  the  ministry  and  Parliament;  and  partly  by  the 
horde  of  office  seekers  and  holders  whose  aim  was  sheer 
pecuniary  gain  at  any  cost  of  honor  and  principle.  The 
mercantile  class  had  borne  their  share  in  oppression 
at  first;  but  when  it  became  evident  that  tyranny  ap- 
plied to  America  would  kill  her  productiveness,  the 
merchants  were  no  longer  on  the  side  of  the  tyrants. 
It  was  then  too  late  to  change  the  policy  of  the  country, 
however ;  George  would  have  his  way  to  the  bitter  end ; 
the  blind  lust  to  thrash  the  colonies  into  abject  sub- 
mission had  the  upper  hand  in  England;  reason  could 
not  get  a  hearing;  and  such  criticisms  as  the  opposi- 
tion could  offer  served  only  to  make  still  more  rigid 
and  medieval  the  determination  of  the  King. 

It  was  the  policy  of  the  English  Government  to  re- 
gard Boston  as  the  head  center  of  revolt,  and  to  con- 
centrate all  severities  against  her.  It  was  thought  that 
in  this  way  she  could  be  isolated  from  the  other  colo- 
nies, who  would  say  to  themselves  that  her  troubles 
were  none  of  their  affair,  and  that  so  long  as  they  were 
treated  with  decency  they  would  not  antagonize  all- 
powerful  England.  Arguing  from  the  average  selfish- 
ness of  human  nature,  this  policy  did  not  seem  unwise ; 
but  the  fact  was  that  in  this  case  human  nature  mani- 

376 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

fested  an  exceptional  generosity  and  enlightenment. 
Although  the  colonies,  being  on  the  coast,  must  depend 
largely  for  their  prosperity  on  commerce,  and  com- 
merce is  notoriously  self-seeking,  nevertheless  all  the 
American  settlements  without  exception  made  the 
cause  of  Boston  their  own,  sent  her  supplies  to  tide  over 
her  evil  days,  and  passed  resolutions -looking  to  union 
and  common  action  against  oppression.  South  Carolina 
had  every  selfish  ground  for  siding  with  England ;  her 
internal  affairs  were  in  a  prosperous  condition,  and 
her  traffic  with  England  was  profitable,  and  not  likely 
to  be  interfered  with ;  yet  none  of  the  colonies  was  more 
outspoken  and  thoroughgoing  than  she  in  denouncing 
England's  action  and  befriending  Boston.  The  great 
commonwealth  of  Virginia  was  not  less  altruistic  in 
her  conduct,  and  did  more  than  any  of  her  sister  prov- 
inces to  enforce  the  doctrine  of  union  and  independence. 
New  York,  a  colony  in  which  aristocracy  held  a  domi- 
nant place,  owing  to  the  tenure  of  large  estates  by  the 
Patroons,  and  which  necessarily  was  a  commercial 
center,  yet  spoke  with  no  uncertain  voice,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  there  were  there  two  parties,  representing 
the  lower  and  the  upper  social  class,  whose  differences 
were  marked,  and  later  led  to  the  formation  of  two 
political  parties  throughout  the  colonies.  In  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  combination  of  nonfighting  Quakers  and 
careful  traders  deadened  energy  in  the  cause,  and  the 
preachings  of  Dickinson,  the  venerable  "Farmer,"  were 
interpreted  as  favoring  a  policy  of  conciliation;  but 
this  hesitation  was  only  temporary.  The  new-made 
city  of  Baltimore  was  conspicuous  in  patriotism;  and 
the  lesser  colonies,  and  many  out-of-the-way  hamlets 
and  villages,  were  magnificent  in  their  devotion  and 
liberality.  The  demand  for  a  congress  was  general, 
and  Boston  was  made  to  feel  that  her  sacrifices  were 
understood  and  appreciated.  She  had  but  to  pay  for 
the  tea  which  had  been  thrown  overboard,  and  her 
port  would  have  been  reopened  and  her  business  re- 
stored ;  but  she  staked  her  existence  upon  a  principle 
and  did  not  weaken.  There  were,  in  all  parts  of  the 
colonies,  a  strong  minority  of  loyalists,  as  they  called 

377 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

themselves,  traitors,  as  they  were  termed  by  extremists 
on  the  other  side,  or  tories,  as  they  came  to  be  known 
later  on,  who  did  and  said  what  they  could  to  induce 
submission  to  England,  with  all  which  that  implied. 
But  the  practical  assistance  they  were  able  to  give  to 
England  was  never  considerable,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  they  sharpened  the  senses  of  the  patriots  and 
kept  them  from  slackening  their  efforts  or  modifying 
their  views. 

Gage,  a  weak  and  irresolute  man,  as  well  as  a  stupid 
one,  was  making  a  great  bluster  in  Boston.  His  powers 
were  despotic.  Soldiers  and  frigates  were  his  in  abun- 
dance; he  talked  about  arresting  the  patriots  for  trea- 
son, to  be  tried  in  England ;  and  Parliament  had  passed 
an  act  relieving  him  and  his  men  from  all  responsibility 
for  killings  or  other  outrages  done  upon  the  colonists. 
He  transferred  the  Legislature  from  Boston  to  Salem ; 
and  urged  in  season  and  out  of  season  the  doctrine 
that  resistance  to  England  was  hopeless.  Upon  the 
whole,  his  threats  were  more  terrible  than  his  deeds, 
though  these  were  bad  enough.  Meanwhile  Hutchinson 
in  England  had  been  encouraging  and  at  the  same 
time  misleading  the  King,  by  assurances  that  the  colo- 
nies would  not  unite,  and  that  Boston  must  succumb. 
At  the  same  time,  Washington  was  declaring  that  noth- 
ing was  to  be  expected  from  petitioning,  and  that  he 
was  ready  to  raise  a  thousand  men  and  subsist  them 
at  his  own  expense,  and  march  at  their  head  for  the 
relief  of  Boston;  Thomson  Mason  was  saying  that  he 
did  not  wish  to  survive  the  liberties  of  his  country 
a  single  moment;  Prescott  of  New  Hampshire  was 
affirming  that  "a  glorious  death  in  defense  of  our  liber- 
ties is  better  than  a  short  and  infamous  life";  Israel 
Putnam  of  Connecticut  announced  himself  ready  to 
treat  the  army  and  navy  of  England  as  enemies;  and 
thousands  of  citizens  in  Massachusetts  were  compel- 
ling royal  councilors  to  resign  their  places,  and  answer- 
ing those  who  threatened  them  with  the  charge  of  trea- 
son and  death  with  "No  consequences  are  so  dreadful 
to  a  free  people  as  that  of  being  made  slaves."  Jay's 
suggestion  to  form  a  union  under  the  auspices  of  the 

378 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

King  was  disapproved  :  "}Ve  must  stand  undisguised  on 
one  side  or  the  other."  'Gage's  orders  were  ignored; 
judges  appointed  by  royal  decree  were  forced  to  retire; 
and  "if  British  troops  should  march  to  Worcester,  they 
would  be  opposed  by  at  least  twenty  thousand  men  from 
Hampshire  County  and  Connecticut."  Gage,  finding 
himself  confronted  by  a  population,  could  think  of  no 
remedy  but  more  troops.  He  wrote  to  England  that 
"the  people  are  numerous,  waked  up  to  a  fury,  and  not 
a  Boston  rabble,  but  the  freeholders  of  the  county.  A 
(heck  would  be  fatal,  and  the  first  stroke  will  decide 
a  great  deal.  We  should  therefore  be  strong  before 
anything  decisive  is  urged."  He  had,  on  the  1st  of 
September,  1774,  captured  two  hundred  and  fifty  half- 
Imrrels  of  provincial  powder,  stored  at  Quarry  Hill, 
near  Medford.  Forty  thousand  militia,  from  various 
parts  of  the  country,  took  up  arms  and  prepared  to 
march  on  Boston;  and  though  word  was  sent  to  them 
that  the  time  had  not  yet  come,  their  rising  was  an 
object  lesson  to  those  who  had  been  asserting  that 
the  colonies  would  submit.  Gage  had  ten  regiments  at 
liis  disposal,  but  was  trying  to  raise  a  force  of  Cana- 
dians and  Indians  in  addition,  and  was  asking  for 
still  more  reenforcements  from  England.  The  employ- 
ment of  Indians  was  a  new  thing  in  English  policy, 
and  was  a  needless  barbarism  which  can  never  be  ex- 
(  used  or  palliated.  Gage  fortified  Boston  Neck,  thus 
putting  all  within  the  lines  at  the  mercy  of  his  army; 
yet  the  starving  carpenters  of  the  town  refused  to  erect 
barracks  for  the  British  troops.  Outside  of  Boston, 
the  towns  threw  off  the  English  yoke.  Hawley  said  he 
would  resist  the  whole  power  of  England  with  the 
forces  of  the  four  New  England  colonies  alone;  and 
every  man  between  sixteen  and  seventy  years  of  age 
was  enrolled  under  the  name  of  "minutemen,"  ready  to 
march  and  fight  at  a  minute's  warning. 

On  the  5th  of  September,  the  first  American  Congress 
met  in  Philadelphia.  Almost  all  the  eminent  men  of 
the  country  were  present — Gadsdeu  of  South  Carolina, 
Washington,  Dickinson,  Patrick  Henry,  Lee,  the 
Adamses,  and  many  more.  They  agreed  to  vote  by  colo- 

379 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

nies.  Their  business  was  to  consider  a  constitution,  to 
protest  against  the  regulating  act  in  force  at  Boston, 
which  left  no  liberty  to  the  citizens ;  to  frame  a  declara- 
tion of  rights,  and  to  make  a  statement  to  the  King 
of  their  attitude  and  demands.  The  session  was  long, 
for  the  delegates  had  to  make  one  another's  acquaint- 
ance, and  to  discover  a  middle  course  between  what 
was  desired  by  separate  colonies  and  what  was  agree- 
able to  all.  Great  differences  of  opinion  and  policy 
were  developed,  and  there  were  not  wanting  men  like 
Galloway,  the  speaker,  who  aimed  at  paralyzing  all 
resistance  to  England.  But  the  longer  they  debated 
and  voted,  the  more  clearly  and  unanimously  did  they 
oppose  the  tyrannous  acts  of  Parliament  and  the  ex- 
tension of  the  royal  prerogative,  and  the  more  firmly 
did  they  demand  liberty  and  equality.  Separation  they 
did  not  demand,  but  a  free  union  with  the  mother 
country,  to  the  mutual  enrichment  and  advantage  of 
both.  By  a  concession  they  admitted  the  right  of 
Parliament  to  lay  external  duties  and  to  regulate 
trade;  but  they  strongly  indorsed  the  resistance  of 
Massachusetts,  and  declared  that  if  her  oppression  were 
persisted  in  it  would  be  the  duty  of  all  America  to 
come  to  her  aid.  With  the  hope  of  influencing  the  mer- 
chants of  England  to  reflect  upon  the  injustice  of  the 
present  trade  restrictions,  they  voted  to  cease  all  im- 
ports into  England,  and  to  refuse  all  exports  there- 
from, though  the  loss  and  inconvenience  to  themselves 
from  this  resolve  must  be  immeasurably  greater  than 
to  the  older  country,  which  had  other  sources  of  supply 
and  markets  for  goods.  In  all  that  they  did,  they  were 
ruled  by  the  consideration  that  they  possessed  no  power 
of  enforcing  their  decrees  upon  their  own  fellow  coun- 
trymen, and  must  therefore  so  frame  them  that  the 
natural  instinct  for  right  and  justice  should  induce  to 
obedience  to  them.  Their  moderation,  their  desire  for 
conciliation,  was  marked  throughout ;  and  when  a  mes- 
sage was  received  from  Boston,  reciting  the  iniquitous 
proceedings  of  Gage,  and  proposing,  if  the  Congress 
agreed,  that  the  citizens  of  the  wealthiest  community 
in  the  new  world  should  abandon  their  homes  and 

380 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

possessions  and  retire  to  a  life  of  log  huts  and  corn- 
fields in  the  wilderness — when  this  heroic  suggestion 
was  made,  the  Congress  resisted  the  fiery  counsel  of 
Gadsden  to  march  forthwith  on  Boston  and  drive  Gage 
and  his  army  into  the  sea;  and  bade  the  people  of 
Boston  to  be  patient  yet  a  while,  and  await  the  issue 
of  the  message  to  England.  But  although  they  were 
conscientious  in  adopting  every  measure  that  could 
honorably  be  employed  to  induce  England  to  reconsider 
her  behavior,  they  had  little  hope  of  a  favorable  issue. 
"After  all,  we  must  fight,"  said  Hawley ;  and  Washing- 
ton, when  he  heard  it,  raised  his  hand,  and  called  God 
to  witness  as  he  cried  out,  "I  am  of  that  man's  mind !" 

Their  final  utterance  to  England  was  noble  and  full 
of  dignity.  "To  your  justice  we  appeal.  You  have  been 
told  that  we  are  impatient  of  government  and  desirous 
of  independence.  These  are  calumnies.  Permit  us  to 
be  as  free  as  yourselves,  and  we  shall  ever  esteem  a 
union  with  you  to  be  our  greatest  glory  and  our  great- 
est happiness.  But  if  you  are  determined  that  your 
ministers  shall  wantonly  sport  with  the  rights  of  man- 
kind: if  neither  the  voice  of  justice,  the  dictates  of 
law,  the  principles  of  the  Constitution,  or  the  sugges- 
tions of  humanity,  can  restrain  your  hands  from 
shedding  human  blood  in  such  an  impious  cause,  we 
must  then  tell  you  that  we  will  never  submit  to  be 
hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  any  ministry 
or  nation  in  the  world." 

In  order  to  cripple  America,  the  new  province  of 
Quebec  was  enlarged,  so  as  to  cut  off  the  western  ex- 
tension of  several  of  the  older  colonies.  At  the  same 
time  discrimination  against  the  Catholics  was  relaxed, 
and  the  Canadians  were  given  to  understand  that  they 
would  be  treated  with  favor.  The  Americans,  however, 
were  not  blind  to  the  value  of  Canadian  friendship,  and 
sent  emissaries  among  them  to  secure  their  good  will. 
"If  you  throw  in  your  lot  with  us,"  they  were  told,  "you 
will  have  been  conquered  into  liberty."  In. Virginia, 
Lord  Dunmore  had  been  appointed  Governor,  and  in 
order  to  gratify  his  passion  for  wealth,  he  broke  the 
injunction  of  the  King,  and  allowed  the  extension  of 

381 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  province  westward ;  but  this  was  the  result  of  his 
personal  greed,  and  did  not  prevent  his  hostility  to  all 
plans  for  colonial  liberty.  Nevertheless,  his  conduct 
gained  him  temporary  popularity  in  Virginia;  and  still 
more  did  his  management  of  the  war  against  the 
Shawnees,  brought  on  by  their  attacks  upon  the  fron- 
tiersmen who  had  pushed  their  little  settlements  as 
far  as  the  Mississippi.  These  backwoodsmen  were  al- 
ways on  the  borders  of  peril,  and  aided  in  hastening 
the  spread  of  population  westward. 

The  proceedings  of  the  American  Congress  produced 
a  sensation  in  England ;  they  were  more  moderate  in 
tone  and  able  in  quality  than  had  been  anticipated. 
They  could  not  divert  the  King  from  his  purpose,  but 
they  aroused  sympathy  in  England  among  the  people, 
and  from  Lord  Chatham  the  remark  that  the  annals 
of  Greece  and  Rome  yielded  nothing  so  lofty  and  just 
in  sentiment  as  their  remonstrance.  The  non repre- 
sentative character  of  Parliament  at  this  juncture  is 
illustrated  by  the  fact  that  three-fourths-  of  the  Eng- 
lish population  were  estimated  to  be  opposed  to  the 
war  with  America.  It  was  also  pointed  out  that  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  men  to  fill  the  regiments,  in- 
asmuch as  all  the  able-bodied  men  in  England  were 
needed  to  carry  on  the  industries  of  the  country;  there 
were  no  general  officers  of  reputation,  and  many  of 
those  holding  commissions  were  mere  boys,  or  incom- 
petent for  service.  There  were  three  million  people  in 
America,  and  they  would  be  fighting  for  their  own 
homes,  and  amid  them,  with  the  whole  vastness  of  the 
continent  to  retire  into.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was 
asserted  that  the  Americans  were  all  cowards,  and 
incapable  of  discipline ;  that  five  thousand  English  sol- 
diers were  more  than  a  match  for  fifty  thousand  pro- 
vincials. They  had  no  navy,  no  army,  no  forts,  no  organi- 
zation. They  would  collapse  at  the  first  real  threat  of 
force.  The  English  ministry  and  their  followers  vied 
with  one  another  in  heaping  contempt  and  abuse  upon 
the  colonists.  It  was  in  reply  to  them  that  Burke  made 
one  of  his  greatest  speeches.  Burke  was  an  artist  in 
sentiments,  and  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  statesman  of 

382 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

settled  and  profound  convictions ;  his  voice  regarding 
America  had  not  been  consistent  or  wise;  but  ever 
and  anon  he  threw  forth  some  worthy  and  noble 
thought.  "I  do  not  know  the  method,"  he  said  in  his 
speech,  "of  drawing  up  an  indictment  against  a  whole 
people."  Franklin  in  March,  after  listening  to  one  of 
Lord  Sandwich's  shallow  and  frothy  vilifications  of 
America,  "turned  on  his  heel"  and  left  England.  With 
him  vanished  the  last  hope  of  reconciliation.  "Had  I 
been  in  power,"  exclaimed  Hutchinson,  "I  would  not 
have  suffered  him  to  embark." 

The  colonists  everywhere  were  collecting  arms  and 
ammunition,  storing  powder,  and  diligently  drilling. 
Whatever  the  leaders  might  say,  or  refrain  from  say- 
ing, the  mass  of  the  people  believed  in  the  immediate 
probability  of  war  with  England.  In  every  village  you 
could  see  the  farmers  shouldering  arms  and  marching 
to  and  fro  on  the  green,  while  an  old  man  played  the 
fife  and  a  boy  beat  the  drum.  They  did  not  concern 
themselves  about  "regimentals"  or  any  of  the  pomp  and 
glory  of  battle ;  but  they  knew  how  to  cast  bullets,  and 
ho\v  to  shoot  them  into  the  bull's-eye.  In  their  home- 
spun smallclothes,  home-knit  stockings,  homemade 
shirts  and  cowhide  shoes,  they  could  march  to  the  can- 
non's mouth  as  well  as  in  the  finest  scarlet  broadcloth 
and  gold  epaulets.  Their  intelligence,  their  good  cause, 
their  sore  extremity,  made  them  learn  to  be  soldiers 
more  quickly  than  seemed  possible  to  English  officers 
who  knew  the  sturdy  stupidity  of  the  English  peasant 
of  whom  the  British  regiments  were  composed.  And 
while  the  Yankees  (as  they  began  to  be  called)  were 
learning  how  to  march  and  countermarch,  and  do  what- 
ever else  the  system  of  the  British  regulars  called  for, 
they  also  knew,  by  inheritance,  if  not  by  actual  ex- 
perience, the  tactics  of  the  Indians;  they  could  make 
a  fortress  of  a  rock  or  a  tree  or  a  rail  fence,  and  could 
shoot  and  vanish,  or  fall,  as  it  seemed,  from  the  empty 
air  into  the  midst  of  the  unsuspecting  foe.  They  were 
effective  not  only  in  bodies,  but  individually;  and  in 
the  heart  of  each,  as  he  faced  the  foe,  would  be  not  only 
the  resolve  to  conquer,  but  the  holy  thought  of  wife  and 

383 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

children  and  of  liberty.  They  were  as  fit  to  be  led  by 
Washington  as  was  he  to  lead  them.  Professing  to 
despise  them,  Gage  nevertheless  protested  against  tak- 
ing the  field  with  less  than  twenty  thousand  men ;  upon 
which  David  Hume  scornfully  observed:  "If  fifty 
thousand  men  and  twenty  millions  of  money  were  in- 
trusted to  such  a  lukewarm  coward,  they  never  could 
produce  any  effect."  It  was  resolved  to  supersede  him. 
The  men  of  Portsmouth  had  seized  a  quantity  of 
powder  and  arms  which  belonged  to  them,  but  had  been 
sequestered  in  the  fort.  The  British,  as  a  set-off, 
marched  to  Salem  to  capture  some  stores  there;  they 
did  not  find  them,  and  proceeded  toward  Danvers.  A 
river,  spanned  by  a  drawbridge,  intervened,  and  when 
they  arrived  the  draw  was  up.  There  stood  Colonel 
Timothy  Pickering,  with  forty  provincials,  asking  what 
Captain  Leslie  with  his  two  hundred  red-coated  regu- 
lars wanted.  The  captain  blustered  and  threatened; 
but  the  draw  remained  up,  and  the  provincials  all  had 
guns  in  their  hands,  and  looked  able  and  willing  to  use 
them,  if  occasion  demanded.  But  the  captain  did  not 
think  it  best  to  give  the  signal  for  combat,  and  mean- 
while time  was  passing,  and  no  soothsayer  was  needed 
to  reveal  that  the  stores  were  being  removed  to  a  place 
of  safety.  After  an  hour  or  so,  Colonel  Pickering  re- 
lented so  far  as  to  permit  the  captain  and  his  regulars 
to  cross  the  bridge  and  advance  thirty  yards  beyond 
it;  after  which  he  must  face  about  and  return  to  Bos- 
ton. This  he  did ;  and  thus  ended  the  first  collision 
between  the  colonies  and  England.  Nobody  was  hurt; 
but  in  less  than  two  months  blood  was  to  be  shed  on 
both  sides,  "The  two  characteristics  of  this  people,  re- 
ligion and  humanity,  are  strongly  marked  in  all  their 
proceedings,"  John  Adams  had  said.  "Resistance  by 
arms  against  usurpation  and  lawless  violence  is  not 
rebellion  by  the  law  of  God  or  the  land.  If  there  is  no 
possible  medium  between  absolute  independence  and 
subjection  to  the  authority  of  Parliament,  all  North 
America  are  convinced  of  their  independence,  and  de 
termined  to  defend  it  at  all  hazards."  The  British 
answer  to  utterances  like  these  was  to  seize  a  farmer 

384 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

from  the  country,  who  had  come  to  town  to  buy  a  fire- 
lock, tar  and  feather  him,  stick  a  placard  on  his  back, 
"American  liberty,  or  a  specimen  of  democracy/'  and 
conduct  him  through  the  streets  amid  a  mob  of  soldiers 
and  officers,  to  the  strains  of  "Yankee  Doodle." 

As  the  last  moments  before  the  irrevocable  outbreak 
passed  away,  there  was  both  a  strong  yearning  for 
peace,  and  a  stern  perception  that  peace  must  be  im- 
possible. "If  Americans  would  be  free,  they  must  fight," 
said  Patrick  Henry  in  Virginia.  One  after  another, 
with  singular  unanimity,  the  colonies  fell  in  with  this 
view.  New  York  was  regarded  by  the  British  as  most 
likely  to  be  loyal ;  New  England,  and  especially  Massa- 
chusetts, were  expected  to  be  the  scene  of  the  first 
hostilities.  Sir  William  Howe,  brother  of  the  Howe 
who  died  bravely  in  the  old  French  War,  was  appointed 
Commander  in  Chief  in  place  of  Gage.  The  latter  was 
directed  to  adopt  the  most  rigorous  and  summary  meas- 
ures toward  the  Boston  people,  whose  congress  was 
pronounced  by  Thurlow  and  Wedderburn  to  be  a  trea- 
sonable body,  deserving  of  condign  punishment.  Orders 
were  given  to  raise  regiments  of  French  Papists  in 
Canada;  and  the  signal  that  should  let  loose  the  red 
men  for  their  work  of  tomahawking  women  and  chil- 
dren was  in  suspense.  It  was  now  the  middle  of  April. 

The  winter  season  had  been  exceptionally  mild.  In 
the  country  neighboring  Boston  the  leaves  were  bud- 
ding a  month  earlier  than  usual,  and  the  grass  was 
deep  and  green  as  in  English  meadows.  The  delicate 
and  fragrant  blossoms  of  the  mayflower  made  the 
wooded  hillsides  sweet,  and  birds  were  singing  and 
building  their  nests  in  the  mild  breezes,  under  the 
cloud-flecked  sky.  The  farmers  were  sowing  their  fields 
and  caring  for  their  cattle;  their  wives  were  feeding 
their  poultry  and  milking  their  cows;  New  England 
seemed  to  have  put  off  her  sternness,  and  to  be  wear- 
ing her  most  inviting  and  peaceful  aspect.  Innocence 
and  love  breathed  in  the  air  and  murmured  in  the 
woods,  and  warbled  in  the  liquid  flowing  of  the  brooks. 
In  such  a  time  and  place  Adam  and  Eve  might  have 
begun  the  life  of  humanity  on  earth,  and  found  in  the 
U.S.— 13  VOL.  I  385 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

loveliness  and  beauty  of  the  world  a  fitting  image  of  the 
tranquillity  and  tenderness  that  overflowed  their  guile- 
less hearts. 

But  Eden  was  far  away  from  New  England  in  the 
spring  of  1775.  Committees  of  Safety  had  been  formed 
in  all  the  towns,  whose  duty  it  was  to  provide  for  de- 
fense against -what  might  happen;  and  two  eminent 
leaders,  Samuel  Adams  and  John  Hancock,  had  been 
to  Lexington  and  Concord  to  oversee  the  dispositions, 
and  to  consult  with  the  fathers  of  the  colony  who  had 
met  in  the  latter  town.  A  small  quantity  of  powder 
and  some  guns  and  muskets  had  been  stored  in  both 
these  places;  for  if  trouble  should  occur  with  the 
British,  it  was  most  likely  to  begin  in  Boston,  and  the 
nrinutemen  of  the  province  would  rendezvous  most 
conveniently  at  these  outlying  settlements,  which  lay 
along  the  highroad  at  distances  of  fourteen  and  twenty 
miles  from  the  city.  No  offensive  operations,  of  course, 
were  contemplated,  nor  was  it  known  what  form  Brit- 
ish aggression  would  assume.  Defense  of  their  homes 
and  liberties  was  all  that  the  New  England  farmers 
and  mechanics  intended.  They  had  no  plan  of  cam- 
paign, and  no  military  leaders  who  knew  anything  of 
the  art  of  war.  They  could  be  killed  by  invaders,  and 
perhaps  kill  some  of  them;  they  were  sure  of  the  holi- 
ness of  their  cause;  but  they  were  too  simple  and 
homely-minded  to  realize  that  God  had  intrusted  to 
them  the  first  irrevocable  step  in  a  movement  which 
should  change  the  destinies  of  the  world. 

In  Boston,  during  the  18th  of  April,  there  had  been 
bustle  and  mysterious  conferences  among  the  British 
officers,  and  movements  among  the  troops ;  which  might 
mean  anything  or  nothing.  But  there  were  patriots  on 
the  watch,  and  it  was  surmised  that  some  hostile  act 
might  be  meditated ;  and  plans  were  made  to  give  warn- 
ing inland,  should  this  prove  to  be  the  case.  At  the 
British  Coffee  House  that  afternoon  the  group  of 
officers  was  gayer  than  usual,  and  there  was  much 
laughter  and  many  toasts.  "Here's  to  the  Yankee 
minutemen !"  said  one :  "the  men  who'll  run  the  minute 
they  see  the  enemy!"  General  Gage  stalked  about, 

386 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

solemn,  important,  and  monosyllabic.  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Smith  was  very  busy,  and  held  himself  un- 
usually erect;  and  Major  Pitcairn  of  the  marines  was 
often  seen  in  his  company,  as  if  the  two  had  some  secret 
in  common.  The  plain  citizens  who  walked  the  streets 
fancied  that  they  were  shouldered  aside  even  more  ar- 
rogantly than  usual  by  the  haughty  redcoats ;  and  that 
the  insolent  stare  with  which  they  afflicted  the  hand- 
some wives  and  pretty  maidens  of  Boston  was  grosser 
and  more  significant  than  common.  But  the  evening 
fell  with  matters  much  as  ordinary,  to  all  appearance; 
and  as  the  town  was  under  martial  law,  most  of  the 
population  was  off  the  streets  by  nine  o'clock. 

But  soon  after  ten  that  night  a  man  was  riding  at 
a  hand  gallop  past  Medford,  heading  west.  He  had 
been  rowed  across  Charles  River  just  at  the  beginning 
of  flood  tide,  and  had  landed  on  the  Charlestown  shore 
a  few  minutes  before  the  order  to  let  none  pass  had 
reached  the  sentry.  Turning,  with  one  foot  in  the  stir- 
rup, he  had  seen  two  lights  from  the  North  Church 
tower,  and  a  moment  afterward  had  been  on  his  way. 
Half  a  mile  beyond  Charlestown  Neck  he  had  almost 
galloped  into  the  arms  of  two  British  officers,  but  had 
avoided  them  by  turning  suddenly  to  the  right.  Now 
the  old  Boston  road  was  smooth  before  him,  and  he 
threw  off  his  three-cornered  hat,  bent  forward  in  his 
saddle  and  spoke  in  his  horse's  ear.  His  was  a  good 
horse,  and  carried  an  important  message.  A  house  near 
the  roadside  showed  up  dark  and  silent  against  the 
starlit  sky;  the  horseman  rode  to  the  door  and  struck 
the  panels  with  his  whip.  A  window  was  thrown  open 
above:  "Who's  there?"  "Paul  Revere:  the  British 
march  to-night  to  Lexington  and  Concord:  Warren,  of 
the'  Committee  of  Safety,  bids  you  hold  your  men  in 
readiness."  "Right!"  The  horseman  turns,  and  is  off 
along  the  road  again  before  the  captain  of  the  Med- 
ford minutemen  has  shut  the  window. 

It  is  but  a  short  fourteen  miles  to  Lexington;  but 
there  are  a  dozen  or  twenty  farmhouses  along  the  way, 
and  at  each  of  them  the  horseman  must  pause  and  de- 
liver his  message;  so  that  it  is  just  midnight  as  he 

387 


comes  in  sight  of  the  outskirts  of  the  humble  village. 
There  is  a  dim  light  burning  in  the  window  of  yonder 
hip-roofed  cottage  beside  the  green ;  Adams  and  Han- 
cock must  be  anticipating  news;  Adams,  indeed,  has 
the  name  of  being  a  man  who  sleeps  little  and  thinks 
much.  The  night  rider's  summons  is  responded  to  at 
once;  and  then,  at  the  open  door,  there  is  a  brief  con- 
ference, terse  and  to  the  point;  the  pale  face  of  a 
woman  looks  from  the  window;  a  message  has  brought 
Dawes  and  Sam  Prescott,  ready  mounted,  to  accompany 
Kevere  on  his  further  journey.  Young  Jonas  Parker, 
the  best  wrestler  in  Lexington,  has  drawn  a  bucket  of 
water  at  the  well  sweep  and  is  holding  it  under  the 
nose  of  Revere's  horse.  "Well,  my  lad,"  says  Paul, 
"are  you  ready  to  fight  to-morrow?"  "I  won't  run — I 
promise  you  that,"  replies  the  youth,  with  a  smile. 
He  was  dead  five  hours  later,  with  a  bullet  through 
his  vigorous  young  body,  and  a  British  bayonet  wound 
in  his  breast,  having  kept  his  word. 

Meanwhile  the  three  horsemen  are  off,  bearing  now 
toward  the  left,  for  Lincoln;  but  there,  as  luck  would 
have  it,  they  encountered  half  a  dozen  English  officers, 
who  arrested  Dawes  and  Revere  and  took  them  back  to 
Lexington.  Prescott,  however,  was  too  quick  for  them ; 
in  the  flurry  and  darkness  he  had  leaped  his  horse  over 
the  low  stone  wall,  and  was  off  across  the  meadows, 
which  he  had  known  from  a  boy,  to  Concord.  It  was 
then  between  one  and  two  o'clock ;  and  the  latter  hour 
had  hardly  struck  when  the  ride  was  over,  and  the  bells 
of  the  meetinghouse  were  pealing  from  the  steeple. 
Two  o'clock  in  the  morning  courage  is  the  test  of  a 
man,  as  Napoleon  said  some  years  later;  be  that  as  it 
may,  here  are  the  Concord  minutemen,  Hosmer,  But- 
trick,  Parson  Emerson,  Brown,  Blanchard,  and  the 
rest ;  they  are  running  toward  the  green,  musket  .in 
hand,  bullet  pouch  on  thigh,  ten,  twenty,  fifty,  a  hun- 
dred and  more ;  and  there  comes  Barrett,  their  captain 
with  his  sword;  the  men  range  out  in  a  double  rank  in 
the  cool  night  air,  and  answer  to  their  names;  if  the 
time  has  indeed  come  for  action,  they  are  ready  to  make 
good  the  bold  words  spoken  at  manv  a  town  meeting 

388 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

and  private  chat  for  weeks  past.  They  have  been  com- 
rades all  their  lives,  and  know  each  other.;  and  yet 
.now,  perhaps,  they  gaze  at  one  another  curiously,  con- 
scious of  an  indefinable  change  that  has  come  over 
them,  now  that  death  may  be  marching  a  few  miles  to 
the  eastward. 

And  in  truth,  while  they  were  discussing  what  might 
happen,  death  was  already  at  work  at  Lexington. 
Eight  hundred  grenadiers  and  light  infantry,  the  best 
soldiers  in  America,  had  marched  into  the  village 
shortly  before  dawn.  For  an  hour  or  more,  as  they 
marched,  they  had  heard  the  sound  of  bells  and  of 
muskets,  now  near,  now  far,  telling  that  their  move- 
ment had  been  discovered;  and  they  hastened  their 
steps ;  not  as  apprehending  resistance  from  the  Yankee 
cowards,  but  lest  the  stores  they  were  after  should  be 
hidden  before  they  could  get  at  them.  And  now,  here 
they  were,  advancing  with  the  regular  tramp  of  dis- 
ciplined troops,  muskets  on  their  shoulders,  bayonets 
fixed,  and  a  slight  dust  rising  from  their  serried  foot- 
steps. They  looked  as  if  they  might  march  through  a 
stone  wall.  But  could  it  really  be  true  that  these  men 
meant  to  kill  American  farmers  in  sight  of  their  own 
homes?  Were  English  soldiers  really  enemies  of  their 
own  flesh  and  blood?  As  they  approached  the  com- 
mon— an  irregular  triangle  of  ground,  with  a  meeting- 
house at  the  farther  end— the  alarm  drum  was  beating, 
and  muskets  firing ;  and  yonder  are  the  minutemen  sure 
enough,  running  together  in  the  morning  dusk,  and 
marshaling  themselves  in  scanty  ranks  under  the  orders 
of  Captain  Parker.  Young  men  and  old  are  there  in 
their  well-worn  shirts  and  breeches,  cut  and  stitched 
by  the  faithful  hands  of  their  wives  and  daughters, 
and  each  with  his  loaded  flintlock  in  his  hands.  There 
are  but  fifty  or  sixty  in  all,  against  sixteen  times  as 
many  of  the  flower  of  the  British  army.  The  vanguard 
of  the  latter  has  halted,  and  has  received  the  order 
from  Pitcairn  to  load ;  and  you  may  hear  the  ring  of  the 
ramrods  in  unison,  and  then  the  click  of  the  locks.  And 
yonder  comes  the  rest  of  the  host,  at  double-quick,  the 
hoarse  commands  of  their  officers  sounding  out  of  the 

389 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

gloom.  What  can  less  than  three-score  minutemen  do 
against  them?  At  all  events,  they  can  die;  and  his- 
tory will  never  forget  them,  standing  there  in  front 
of  the  little  church  where  they  had  so  often  prayed; 
and  their  country  will  always  honor  their  names  and 
love  them.  They  stood  there,  silent  and  motionless, 
protesting  with  their  lives  against  the  march  of  tyr- 
anny. How  few  they  were — and  what  countless  mil- 
lions they  represented! 

Out  rides  Pitcairn  in  front  of  the  grenadiers.  You 
can  see  the  red  of  his  tunic  now  in  the  gathering  light, 
the  sparkle  of  his  accouterments,  and  the  gleam  of  his 
sword  as  he  swings  it  with  a  commanding  gesture. 
"Disperse,  ye  villains !"  he  calls  out  in  a  harsh,  peremp- 
tory voice:  "Ye  rebels — why  don't  you  lay  down  your 
arms  and  disperse?" 

Would  they  obey?  No:  for  they  were  neither  vil- 
lains nor  rebels;  they  had  come  there  as  a  sacrifice, 
and  they  would  not  go  thence  until  the  crime  had  been 
committed,  and  their  country  had  definitely  learned 
from  them  whether  oppression  would  proceed  to  the 
last  extremity  or  not.  It  was  only  a  few  harmless, 
heroic  lives  to  lose;  but  so  much  must  needs  be  done. 
It  was  not  an  easy  thing  to  do;  there  was  no  one  to 
teach  them  how  to  do  it  scenically  and  splendidly. 
They  must  simply  stand  there,  in  their  own  awkward 
way,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  motionless,  gazing  at  the 
gallant  major  and  the  heavy  masses  of  uniformed  men 
beyond  waiting  for  what  might  come.  The  Lord  of 
Hosts  was  on  their  side;  but,  as  with  our  Saviour  in 
the  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  He  seemed  remotest  when 
most  near.  Their  wives  and  children  are  there,  look- 
ing on,  straining  their  eyes  through  the  obscurity,  with 
what  throbbings  of  agony  in  their  hearts,  with  what 
prayers  choking  in  their  throats ! 

The  major  snatches  a  pistol  from  his  holster,  levels 
and  discharges  it;  and  "Fire!"  he  shouts  at  the  same 
moment,  at  the  top  of  his  lungs.  He  had  omitted  the 
"Ready — present!"  and  the  soldiers  did  not  all  fire  at 
once;  first  there  were  a  few  dropping  shots;  but  then 
came  the  volley.  The  regulars  shot  to  kill.  Down  came 

390 


THE  SHOT  HEAED  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

Jonas  Parker  to  his  knee,  to  be  stabbed  to  death  before 
he  could  reload ;  there  fell  old  Munroe,  the  veteran  of 
Lnuisburg;  and  Harrington,  killed  at  his  doorstep,  and 
Muzzey,  Hadley,  and  Brown.  In  all,  before  the  stars 
had  faded  in  the  light  of  dawn,  sixteen  New  Eng- 
landers  lay  dead  or  wounded  on  the  village  green.  And 
the  British  troops  had  reformed,  and  huzzaed  thrice, 
and  marched  on  with  drum  and  fife,  before  the  sun  of 
the  19th  of  April  had  looked  upon  their  work.  The 
Revolution  had  begun. 

It  was  seven  o'clock  when,  with  the  sun  on  their 
backs,  the  British  invaders  came  along  the  base  of  the 
low  hill,  crowned  with  pine  and  birch,  that  lies  like  a 
sleeping  serpent  to  the  east  on  the  way  to  Concord. 
They  were  a  trifle  jaded  now  from  their  all-night  march, 
and  their  gaiters  and  uniforms  were  a  little  dusty; 
but  the  barrels  of  their  guns  shone  as  bright  as  ever, 
and  their  spirits  were  good,  after  their  glorious  exploit 
six  miles  back.  Glorious,  of  course:  yet  a  trifle  dull, 
all  the  same;  there  would  be  more  fun  shooting  these 
bumpkins,  if  only  they  could  summon  heart  to  put  up  a 
bit  of  a  fight  in  return.  "Maybe  we'll  get  a  better 
chance  at  'em  out  here,  colonel — eh?"  the  major  of 
marines  might  have  said,  with  his  Scotch  brogue,  turn- 
ing his  horse  to  ride  beside  his  superior  officer  for  a 
mile  or  so.  "I  don't  think  it,  sir,"  that  great  soldier 
would  reply,  puffing  out  his  cheeks,  and  wiping  his  brow 
with  his  embroidered  handkerchief.  "The  sight  of  his 
Majesty's  uniform,  Major  Pitcairn,  is  alone  enough  to 
put  to  flight  every  scurvy  rebel  in  Massachusetts.  If 
you  want  to  get  within  range  of  'em,  sir,  you  must 
wear  mufti." 

During  the  early  morning  hours  the  minutemen 
standing  under  the  liberty  pole  in  front  of  Concord 
meetinghouse  had  been  gradually  reenforced  by  parties 
hastening  in  from  Lincoln,  Acton,  and  other  outlying 
hamlets,  until  they  numbered  about  two  hundred  men. 
But  as  the  British  drew  near,  eight  hundred  strong, 
the  Americans  withdrew  down  a  meadow  road  north- 
ward, until  they  reached  a  hospitable  edifice  with  a 
broad  roof,  pierced  by  gables,  standing  at  the  upper  end 

391 


of  an  avenue,  and  with  its  back  toward  the  sluggish 
Muskataquid,  or  Concord  River.  A  few  rods  to  the  left 
of  the  site  of  this  manse  was  a  wooden  bridge  span- 
ning the  stream,  known  as  the  North  Bridge.  The 
manse  was  occupied  by  the  Rev.  William  Emerson,  the 
minister  of  the  town,  and  from  its  western  windows 
was  an  excellent  view  of  the  bridge.  One  of  these  win- 
dows was  open,  and  the  pastor  himself,  with  his  arms 
resting  on  the  sill,  was  looking  from  his  coign  of  van- 
tage when  the  minutemen  came  up,  crossed  the  bridge, 
and  stationed  themselves  on  the  rising  ground  just  be- 
yond. He  remained  there,  a  deeply  interested  specta- 
tor during  the  events  which  followed. 

The  British,  finding  Concord  deserted,  divided  into 
three  parts,  one  going  to  a  bridge  to  the  south  of  the 
town,  one  remaining  in  the  town  itself,  and  the  third 
marching  north,  where  it  again  divided,  one  party  of  a 
hundred  guarding  the  approach  to  the  North  Bridge 
on  the  further  side  of  which  the  Americans  were  em- 
battled, the  other  proceeding  along  the  road  to  the 
house  of  Captain  Barrett  in  search  of  arms.  A  couple 
of  hours  passed  by,  and  nothing  seemed  likely  to  hap- 
pen ;  but  it  was  noticed  that  there  was  the  smoke  of  a 
fire  in  Concord,  a  mile  to  the  south  and  east.  Smith 
and  Pitcairn  were  there,  with  the  main  body  of  the 
troops,  and  they  had  been  making  bonfires  of  the 
liberty  pole  and  some  gun  carriages:  the  courthouse 
was  also  in  a  blaze.  But  to  the  Concord  men,  waiting 
at  the  bridge,  it  looked  as  if  the  British  were  setting 
their  homes  afire.  The  women  and  children  had  been 
sent  into  the  woods  out  of  harm's  way,  before  the  regi- 
ments arrived ;  but  some  of  them  might  have  ventured 
back  again.  Vague  rumors  of  the  bloodshed  at  Lexing- 
ton had  been  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth,  losing  noth- 
ing probably  on  the  way.  The  men  began  to  ask  one 
another  whether  it  was  not  incumbent  on  them  to 
march  to  the  rescue  of  their  town? 

By  accessions  from  Carlisle,  Bedford,  Woburn,  West- 
ford,  Littleton,  and  Chelmsford  they  had  now  grown 
to  a  strength  of  four  hundred;  the  force  immediately 
opposing  them  was  less  than  half  as  numerous.  They, 

392 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

evidently  did  not  expect  an  attack;  they  had  not  even 
removed  the  planks  from  the  bridge.  They  despised  the 
Yankees  too  much  to  take  that  easy  precaution. 

But  though  the  British  at  this  point  were  few,  they 
were  regulars;  they  stood  for  the  English  army  in 
America:  and  for  more  than  that — they  stood  for  all 
England,  for  Parliament,  for  the  King,  for  loyalty ;  for 
that  enormous  moral  force,  so  much  more  potent  even 
than  the  physical,  which  tends  to  prevail  because  it 
alwaVs  has  prevailed.  These  farmers  did  not  fear  to 
risk  their  lives;  their  fathers,  and  some  of  themselves, 
had  fought  Indians  and  Frenchmen,  and  thought  lit- 
tle of  it.  But  to  fight  men  whose  limbs  were  made  in 
England — in  the  old  home  which  the  colonists  still  re- 
garded as  theirs,  and  had  not  ceased  to  love  and  honor, 
for  all  this  quarrel  about  duties  and  laws  of  trade — 
that  was  another  matter:  it  was  almost  like  turning 
their  weapons  against  themselves.  And  yet,  if  there 
were  any  value  in  human  liberty,  if  the  words  which 
they  had  listened  to  from  the  lips  of  Adams  and  War- 
ren and  Hancock  meant  anything — now  was  the  time 
to  testify  to  their  belief  in  them.  They  were  men :  this 
was  their  land:  yonder  were  burning  their  dwellings: 
they  had  a  right  to  defend  them  and  their  families. 
What  said  Captain  Barrett — and  Isaac  Davis  of  Acton, 
and  Buttrick?  And  here  was  Colonel  Robinson  of 
Westford  too,  a  volunteer  to-day:  but  what  was  his 
opinion  ? 

The  officers  drew  together,  conferred  a  moment,  and 
then  Barrett,  who  was  in  command,  and  the  only  man 
on  horseback,  gave  the  word:  "Advance  across  the 
bridge:  don't  fire  unless  they  fire  at  you."  The  com- 
panies marched  past  him,  led  by  Buttrick,  Davis,  and 
Robinson,  with  their  swords  drawn.  The  men  were 
in  double  file. 

Seeing  them  actually  advancing  on  the  bridge,  the 
British  condescended  to  bestir  themselves,  and  some  of 
them  began  to  raise  the  planks.  Upon  this,  the  Ameri- 
cans, who  meant  to  cross,  broke  into  a  trot.  Mr. 
Emerson,  leaning  out  of  his  window,  with  the  light  of 
battle  in  his  eyes,  saw  three  or  four  puffs  of  smoke  come 

393 


HISTOBT   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

from  the  British,  and  two  Americans  fell.  Immediately 
after  there  was  a  volley  from  the  regulars,  and  now 
Isaac  Davis  was  down,  and  moved  no  more;  and 
Abner  Hosmer  fell  dead  near  him.  The  Americans 
were  advancing,  but  they  had  not  fired.  "Father  in 
Heaven!"  ejaculated  the  good  parson,  between  his  set 
teeth,  "aren't  they  going  to  shoot?" 

Even  as  he  spoke,  he  saw  Buttrick  leap  upward,  and 
heard  his  shout:  "Fire,  fellow  soldiers! — for  God's 
sake,  fire !" 

The  men  repeated  the  word  to  one  another ;  up  came 
their  guns  to  their  shoulders,  and  the  sharp  detona- 
tions followed.  They  reached  the  ears  of  the  minister, 
and  he  gave  a  sigh  of  relief.  They  echoed  across  the 
river,  and  rolled  away  toward  the  village,  and  into  the 
distance.  Nor  did  they  stop  there — those  echoes :  the 
Atlantic  is  wide,  but  they  crossed  it;  they  made  Lord 
North,  Thurlow,  and  Wedderburn  start  in  their  chairs, 
and  mutter  a  curse:  they  penetrated  to  the  King  in 
his  cabinet,  and  he  flushed  and  bit  his  lip.  More  than 
a  hundred  years  have  passed;  and  yet  the  vibrations 
of  that  shot  across  Concord  Bridge  have  not  died  away. 
Whenever  tyranny  and  oppression  raise  their  evil 
hands,  that  sound  comes  reverberating  out  of  the  past, 
and  they  hesitate  and  turn  pale.  Whenever  a  monarch 
meditates  injustice  against  his  subjects,  the  noise  of 
the  muskets  of  the  Concord  yeomen,  fired  that  men 
might  be  free,  falls  upon  his  ear,  and  he  pauses  and 
counts  the  cost.  Yes,  and  there  have  been  those  among 
ourselves,  citizens  of  the  land  for  which  those  yeomen 
fought  and  died,  who  also  might  take  warning  from 
those  ominous  echoes:  for  the  battle  waged  by  selfish- 
ness and  corruption  against  human  rights  has  not 
ceased  to  be  waged  on  these  shores,  though  the  British 
left  them  a  century  ago.  It  seems,  at  times,  as  if  vic- 
tory inclined  toward  the  evil  rather  than  the  good.  But 
let  us  not  be  misled.  The  blood  of  the  farmers  who 
drove  England  out  of  America  flows  in  our  veins  still ; 
we  are  patient  and  tolerant  to  a  fault,  but  not  forever. 
The  onlooker,  gazing  from  afar,  fears  that  we  will  never 
shoot;  but  presently  he  shall  be  reassured;  and,  once 

394 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

our  advance  is  begun,  there  will  be  no  relenting  till 
the  last  invader  be  driven  into  the  sea. 

There  is  a  deeper  lesson  yet  to  be  learned  from  Con- 
cord fight.  It  is  that  the  noblest  deeds  may  be  done  by 
the  humblest  instruments;  and  that  as  Christ  chose 
His  apostles  from  among  the  fishermen  of  Galilee,  so 
was  the  immortal  honor  of  beginning  the  battle  for  the 
liberation  of  mankind  intrusted  to  a  handful  of  lowly 
husbandmen  and  artisans,  who  knew  little  more  than 
that  right  was  right,  and  wrong,  wrong.  There  were 
no  philosophers  or  statesmen  among  them;  they  com- 
prehended nothing  of  diplomacy ;  they  only  felt  that  a 
duty  had  been  laid  upon  them,  and,  inspired  by  that 
conviction,  they  went  forward  and  did  it.  The  judg- 
ment of  the  world  has  ratified  their  act,  and  has  ad- 
mitted that  perhaps  more  subtle  reasoners  than  they, 
balancing  one  consideration  against  another,  taking 
counsel  of  far-reaching  prudence,  flinching  from  re- 
sponsibility, might  have  put  off  action  until  the  golden 
moment  had  forever  passed.  But  what  the  hands  of 
these  men  found  to  do,  they  did  with  their  might;  and 
therefore  established  the  truth  that  the  spirit  of  God 
finds  its  fitting  home  in  the  bosoms  of  the  poor  and 
simple;  and  that  the  destinies  of  mankind  are  safe  in 
their  protection. 

Two  English  soldiers  were  killed  or  mortally 
wounded  by  the  fire  of  the  Americans  and  several 
others  were  hit.  A  panic  seized  upon  the  rest,  and 
before  the  farmers  had  crossed  the  bridge,  they  were 
retreating  in  disorder  upon  the  main  body  in  Concord. 
Barrett's  men  were  surprised  by  this  sudden  collapse 
of  the  enemy,  and  did  not  pursue  them  at  that  time,  nor 
intercept  the  small  force  further  up  the  road,  all  of 
whom  might  easily  have  been  killed  or  captured.  Per- 
haps they  even  felt  sorry  for  what  they  had  done;  at 
all  events,  they  betrayed  no  bloodthirstiness  as  yet. 
But  when  Smith  and  Pitcairn,  after  much  agitation 
and  irresolution,  ordered  a  retreat  of  the  whole  force 
down  the  Boston  road,  firing  as  they  went  upon  all  who 
showed  themselves,  and  robbing  and  destroying  dwell- 
ings along  the  route:  when  the  winners  of  Concord 

395 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Bridge,  and  their  fellow  minutemen,  who  now  began  to 
be  numbered  by  thousands  rather  than  by  hundreds, 
saw  and  comprehended  this,  the  true  spirit  of  war  was 
kindled  within  them,  and  they  began  that  running 
fight  of  twenty  miles  which  ended  in  the  hurling  of 
the  British  into  the  defenses  of  Boston,  broken,  ex- 
hausted, utterly  demoralized  and  beaten,  with  a  loss 
of  two  hundred  and  seventy-three  men  and  officers, 
Smith  himself  receiving  a  severe  wound.  Ten  miles 
more  would  have  witnessed  their  complete  annihilation. 
No  troops  ever  ran  with  better  diligence  than  did  these 
English  regulars  before  the  despised  Yankee  minute- 
men;  they  lost  the  day,  and  honor  likewise.  It  was  in 
vain  that  they  threw  out  flanking  parties  in  an  effort 
to  clear  the  woods  of  the  American  sharpshooters ;  the 
latter  knew  the  war  of  the  forest  better  than  they,  and 
the  flanking  parties  withered  away,  and  staggered  help- 
less from  exhaustion.  It  was  in  vain  that  Lord  Percy, 
with  twelve  hundred  men,  met  the  flying  horde  at  Lex- 
ington, where  their  officers  were  trying  to  reform  them 
under  threats  of  death;  his  cannon  could  delay,  but 
not  reverse  the  fortunes  of  the  day.  Lord  Percy  soon 
became  as  frightened  as  the  rest,  and  realized  that 
speed  of  foot  was  his  sole  hope  of  safety.  Gasping  for 
breath,  reeling  from  fatigue,  with  terror  and  despair 
in  their  hearts,  foul  with  dust  and  dripping  with 
blood,  a  third  part  of  the  British  army  in  New  Eng- 
land were  hunted  back  to  their  fortifications  as  the 
sun  of  the  19th  of  April,  whose  first  beams  had  fallen 
upon  the  dead  at  Lexington,  went  down  in  the  west. 
Less  than  fifty  Americans  had  been  killed,  less  than 
forty  were  wounded.  Some  of  these,  however,  were 
helpless  persons,  who  were  wantonly  murdered  in  their 
houses  by  English  soldiers,  their  brains  dashed  out, 
and  their  bodies  hacked  and  stabbed.  Women  in  child- 
birth were  not  exempt  from  the  brutal  fury  of  the 
flower  of  the  British  army;  and  an  idiot  boy  was  de- 
liberately shot  as  he  sat  on  a  fence,  vacantly  staring 
at  the  passing  rout.  All,  or  most  of  the  towns  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Boston  contributed  their  able-bodied 
men  to  the  American  force  during  the  day;  but  there 

396 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

was  never  more  than  a  few  hundred  together  at  one 
time,  fresh  relays  taking  the  place  of  those  whose 
ammunition  had  been  used  up.  Some  of  these  squads 
performed  prodigies  of  endurance;  one  of  them  arrived 
at  the  scene  of  action  after  a  march  of  fifty-five  miles. 
No  man  under  seventy  or  over  sixteen  would  stay  at 
home;  and  Josiah  Haynes  of  Sudbury  was  marching 
and  fighting  from  earliest  dawn  till  past  noon,  when 
he  was  killed  by  a  grenadier's  musket  ball.  He  was 
born  five  years  before  the  Eighteenth  Century  began. 

At  West  Cambridge  the  Americans  were  met  by 
Joseph  Warren  and  General  Heath,  who  organized  the 
heretofore  irregular  pursuit,  and  made  it  more  dis- 
astrous to  the  enemy  than  ever.  Warren,  in  the  front 
of  danger,  was  grazed  by  a  bullet;  but  his  time  had 
not  yet  come.  Fortunately  for  the  British,  Charles- 
Town  Neck  was  near,  and  once  across  that  they  were 
for  the  present  safe.  In  fourteen  hours  they  had 
learned  more  about  America  than  they  could  ever  for- 
get. The  Americans,  for  their  part,  had  not  failed  to 
gather  profit  and  confidence  from  the  experiences  of  the 
day.  The  paralysis  of  respect  and  loyalty  to  England 
was  at  an  end.  The  antagonists  had  met  and  measured 
their  strength,  and  the  undisciplined  countrymen  had 
proved  the  stronger.  At  any  given  point  of  the  retreat, 
the  English  had  always  been  the  more  numerous;  but 
they  showed  neither  heart  nor  ability  for  the  contest. 
The  British  Coffee  House  in  King  Street  that  night 
presented  a  scene  in  marked  contrast  with  that  of  the 
night  before. 

The  rumors  of  the  battle,  and  messages  of  informa- 
tion and  appeal  from  the  leaders,  were  disseminated 
without  delay,  and  in  a  space  of  time  wonderfully  short 
had  penetrated  to  the  remotest  of  the  colonies.  Every- 
where they  met  with  the  same  reception;  all  were 
eager  to  join  in  the  work  so  hopefully  begun.  Within 
a  day  or  two,  the  force  beleaguering  Boston  numbered 
several  thousand ;  but  as  many  of  these  came  and  went 
between  the  camp  and  their  homes,  no  precise  estimate 
can  be  made.  They  were  without  artiller}7  for  bom- 
bardment, without  a  commissariat,  and  almost  without 

397 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

organization;  and  no  leader  had  yet  appeared  capable 
of  bringing  order  out  of  the  confusion.  But  not  a  few 
men  afterward  to  be  distinguished  were  present  there : 
the  veteran  John  Stark,  Benedict  Arnold  from  Con- 
necticut, Israel  Putnam,  who  rode  a  hundred  miles  on 
one  horse  to  join  the  provincial  army;  and  Joseph 
Warren,  were  on  the  ground,  and  others  were  to  come. 
Boston  was  effectually  surrounded;  Gage  and  his 
officers  were  afraid  to  order  a  sortie;  and  after  a  few 
days  allowed  the  nonloyalist  inhabitants  to  leave  the 
city,  on  their  promise  not  to  take  part  in  the  siege. 
The  chief  deficiency  of  the  Americans,  or  that  at  least 
which  most  obviously  pressed  upon  them,  was  the  want 
of  money:  Massachusetts  had  hitherto  avoided  paper; 
but  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  stand  on  scruples,  and 
a  bill  to  issue  a  hundred  thousand  pounds  was  passed, 
and  a  quarter  as  much  in  bills  of  small  denominations, 
to  pay  the  soldiers.  The  other  colonies  adopted  similar 
measures.  In  New  York,  eighty  thousand  pounds' 
worth  of  stores  and  supplies  for  Gage  was  seized  by  the 
people-,  and  no  ships  were  allowed  to  leave  the  harbor 
for  the  succor  of  the  enemy.  In  Virginia,  Patrick 
Henry  and  the  young  Madison,  just  out  of  Princeton, 
were  prominent  in  opposing  Governor  Dunmore's  ef- 
forts to  establish  "order."  In  Pennsylvania,  men  were 
raised  and  drilled,  and  patriotic  resolves  adopted ;  and 
Franklin  arrived  from  England  in  time  to  be  elected 
deputy  to  the  second  American  Congress.  The  men  of 
South  Carolina  announced  themselves  ready  to  give 
"the  half,  or  the  whole"  of  their  estates  for  the  security 
of  their  liberties,  and  voted  to  raise  three  regiments. 
Georgia,  with  only  three  thousand  militia,  and  under 
threat  of  an  Indian  war  on  her  frontier,  fearlessly  gave 
in  her  adhesion  to  the  general  movement.  In  North 
Carolina  the  news  from  Lexington  stampeded  the  Gov- 
ernor, and  left  the  people  free  to  work  their  will.  But 
the  next  notable  achievement,  after  the  Concord  fight 
and  the  running  battle,  was  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga 
by  Ethan  Allen. 

The  design  was  formed  in  Connecticut,  less  than  ten 
days  after  Lexington.    Ethan  Allen  was  a  Connecticut 

398 


THE  SHOT  HEAKD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

boy,  but  had  early  emigrated  with  his  brothers  to  the 
New  Hampshire  Grants,  as  Vermont  was  then  called. 
These  grants,  given  by  the  Governor  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, were  called  in  question  by  New  York,  and  officers 
from  that  colony  tried  to  oust  the  settlers;  in  their 
resistance  Allen  was  the  leader,  and  attained  local  celeb- 
rity. Parsons  of  Connecticut  conferred  with  Benedict 
Arnold  on  the  scheme  of  capturing  the  old  fortress; 
and  communication  was  had  with  Allen,  who,  being 
familiar  with  the  Lake  George  region,  and  at  the  same 
time  of  Connecticut  stock,  was  esteemed  the  best  man 
to  associate  with  the  enterprise.  Parsons  and  a  few 
others  raised  money  on  their  personal  security,  and 
set  out  for  the  north,  gathering  companions  as  they 
went.  Ethan  Allen  met  them  at  Bennington  with  his 
company  of  Green  Mountain  Boys,  and  was  chosen 
leader  of  the  adventure,  Arnold,  who  had  a  commis- 
sion from  Massachusetts,  being  ignored.  On  the  9th 
of  May  the  party,  numbering  about  eighty  men,  exclu- 
sive of  the  rear  guard,  which  was  left  behind  by  the 
exigencies  of  the  occasion,  landed  on  the  shore  near 
the  fortress.  Ticonderoga  was  a  strong  place,  even  for 
a  force  provided  with  cannon;  but  Allen  had  nothing 
but  muskets,  and  everything  depended  upon  a  surprise. 
It  was  just  sunrise  on  the  10th  when  Allen  addressed 
his  men  with :  "We  must  this  morning  either  quit  our 
pretensions  to  valor  or  possess  ourselves  of  this  for- 
tress; and  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  desperate  attempt,  I  do 
not  urge  it  contrary  to  your  will.  You  that  will  under- 
take voluntarily,  poise  your  firelocks!"  The  response 
was  unanimous.  The  wicket  of  the  stronghold  was 
found  open ;  the  sentry  snapped  his  gun  at  Allen,  missed 
him,  and  was  overpowered  with  a  rush,  together  with 
the  other  guards.  On  the  parade  within  a  hollow  square 
was  formed,  facing  the  four  barracks;  a  wounded  sen- 
try volunteered  to  conduct  Allen  to  the  commander, 
Delaplace.  "Come  forth  instantly  or  I  will  sacrifice 
the  whole  garrison,"  thundered  Allen  at  the  door;  and 
poor  Delaplace,  half  awake,  started  up  with  his  breeches 
in  his  hand  and  wanted  to  know  what  was  the  matter. 
"Deliver  to  me  this  fort  instantly!"  "By  what  au- 

399 


HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

thority?"  inquired  the  stupefied  commander.  The  Ver- 
monter  was  never  at  a  loss  either  for  a  word  or  a  blow. 
"In  the  name  of  the  great  Jehovah  and  the  Continental 
Congress!"  and  presenting  the  point  of  his  sword,  he 
cut  short  further  parley  and  received  the  surrender. 
Fifty  prisoners,  with  guns  and  stores,  went  with  the 
fortress,  for  which  the  British  had  sacrificed  forty  mil- 
lion dollars  and  several  campaigns,  and  not  a  drop  of 
American  blood  was  spilled.  Ethan  Allen  is  a  pic- 
turesque character,  and  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga  is 
one  of  the  picturesque  episodes  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  a  valuable  exploit  from  the  military  point 
of  view;  but  it  lacks  inevitably  the  moral  weight  and 
dignity  of  the  Concord  fight.  Indeed,  the  significance 
of  the  entire  struggle  between  Britain  and  her  colonies 
was  summed  up  and  typified  in  that  initial  act  of  un- 
supported courage.  What  followed  was  but  a  corollary 
and  expansion  of  it. 

On  the  same  day  that  Allen  overcame  Delaplace  the 
second  Congress  met  in  Philadelphia.  It  was  a  very 
conservative  body,  anxious  that  the  war  might  proceed 
no  further,  and  hopeful  that  England  might  recognize 
the  justice  of  America's  wish  to  be  free  while  retain- 
ing the  name  of  subjects  of  the  King.  But  affairs  had 
now  got  beyond  the  control  of  congresses;  the  people 
themselves  were  in  command,  and  the  Legislature  could 
do  little  more  than  ascertain  and  register  their  will. 
The  present  Congress,  indeed,  had  no  legislative  powers 
nor  legal  status  of  any  kind ;  it  was  but  the  sober  mind 
of  the  several  colonies  thinking  over  the  situation  and 
offering  advice  here,  warning  there.  It  could  not  dis- 
pose of  means  to  execute  its  ideas,  while  yet  it  would 
be  open  to  as  much  criticism  as  if  it  possessed  active 
powers.  Naturally,  therefore,  its  tendency  was  to  be 
timid  and  circumspect.  It  is  memorable,  nevertheless, 
for  at  least  two  resolutions  of  high  importance ;  it  voted 
an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men,  and  it  named  George 
Washington  as  Commander  in  Chief.  And  when  he 
declined  to  countenance  the  proffered  petition  to  King 
George,  the  ultimate  prospect  of  reconciliation  with 
England  vanished- 

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LIBRARY 


IjcVoUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FAC  LITY 


II     111     Illl  ••       •"     " 

AA    000873763    7 


